electrocd

The Barely Project

Natasha Barrett

The Barely Project

  • Natasha Barrett
  • Year of composition: 2006-08
  • Instrumentation: stereo fixed medium

The Barely Project develops a paradigm within which highly detailed sensory information is explored at the point of the ‘experienced threshold.’ The ‘experienced threshold’ is the point at which we begin to cognitise or attempt to find meaning rather than merely perceive. For example, in terms of our auditory sense the ‘experienced threshold’ is directly connected to the volume and content of the pre-existing sound environment. In an anechoic room, the experienced threshold is that of the threshold of hearing. At a busy train station the experienced threshold is the sound to which we consciously listen as information-gatherers, rather than as passive receivers with no intention to listen or interpret meaning. In a similar way we experience an attention threshold when it comes to visual and spatial experience. In visually overloaded environments we tend to automatically filter out the visual noise or information that is regarded irrelevant for our daily activities. All of our senses may be addressed under The Barely Project paradigm.

The complexity of our everyday stimuli sometimes tends to a state of noise in terms of cognitive and sociological experience. To take in all that is presented to us may result in information overload or even a state of information entropy. On a conceptual level Barely presents an alternative way of organising high levels of information, enticing the individual into deep attention and concentration by offering selective details at a level that is only just perceptible. To date The Barely Project consists of four parts, three of which are on the disc Bouteilles de Klein.

[xii-09]


Works in this cycle
Albums