Sometime Surrealist artist Max Ernst explored a huge range of technical approaches to the creation of images in his vast body of work from 1909 to 1976. Amongst these techniques were Fumage (using black smoke on media), Frottage (rubbing over textured surfaces), Grattage (scraping the surface of works), Decalcomania (sticking images onto thick paint) and Asemic writing (invented glyphs and texts). Éraflage (scraping) is a homage to Ernst in the form of one of his most frequently used techniques: the Collage.
This sonic collage of musical materials is spontaneously created with each performance. It consists of 12 musical fragments and one longer underlying scored texture, that are assembled into a work by through conductor or computer direction. The musical materials can also be modified by a series of devices alluding to Ernst’s visual techniques: Éraflage (scraping distortion), Draguage (a sort of musical gravitational pull), Bruitage (transformation of materials into noise), Entropage (randomization) and Embrouillage (tangling). Ernst’s preoccupation with cosmological images, particularly in his later works, is reflected in the structure of the musical fragments that expand from a “singularity” of five pitches to a scale of 25 notes.
First Performed: Ensemble Scintilla Divina 18 August 2007, POLYCHROM Scintilla Divina Festival, Jena Germany
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