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Orchestrations

Experimental music, robotic instruments and naked
dancing in Ghent

After two years of publishing Flanders Today, none of the
extraordinary things people do in Flanders surprises us anymore. Until
now.

Flanders, I recently discovered, is home to the world’s largest robot
orchestra. Godfried- Willem Raes, founder of the Logos Foundation in Ghent, has
assembled an array of robotic instruments, which are not only impressive to
behold in terms of design and engineering; they also play extraordinary music.

The Logos Foundation is run by a small but dedicated group of composers and
artists. They hold weekly concerts in a silver, tetrahedronshaped concert hall –
a space designed by Raes for optimal acoustics. Each concert is distinctive –
the featured material could be avantgarde sound poetry one night and robotic
renditions of tango music the next.

Raes has been dedicated to the promotion and performance of experimental
music and sound art for more than 40 years. He and partner, Moniek Darge, were
named “cultural ambassadors” to Flanders in 1997 for their pioneering
performances and extensive travels as the Logos Duo.

Logos was initially conceived at the Royal Conservatory of Ghent in the late
1960s. Frustrated with the lack of opportunities to compose or even play
contemporary music while studying at the conservatory, Raes and his colleagues
formed an alternative ensemble.

“At that time in the conservatory, music was only considered worthwhile if it
was at least 100 years old,” says Raes. “We started questioning this attitude
and – in the revolutionary spirit of the time – decided to form a group of our
own that would refuse to play music of the past. We would only do contemporary
pieces.”

The ensemble of five started composing their own music and holding concerts.
Raes wrote a piece titled “Logos” that required each musician to play in a
different metre. The piece was so technically challenging that he had to
construct a sort of conducting machine – what would be his first robot – to help
coordinate the musicians.

Many considered this performance, as well as the philosophy and actions of
the ensemble, scandalous. Ultimately, all five musicians were thrown out of the
conservatory, but by then they had attracted a following. The group continued to
organise concerts and started inviting artists from other locations and
disciplines to collaborate and exchange ideas.

Raes soon realised that in order to truly create new music, new musical tools
were required. “Why do we still play historic instruments if we are to play
contemporary music?” he asks. “My idea was to create our own instruments.”

And so, Raes became an instrument builder. In Logos’ first 20 years or so, he
focused on the promise of the time: electronics. He built instruments such as
synthesizers to perform this experimental music.

But eventually, the electronic music performances posed a philosophical
problem that Raes couldn’t ignore. In a typical concert setting, there is an
intimate connection between the audience and the performer. With a visible
performer, the audience is able to perceive the process of music making. The
effort it takes a trumpet player to hit the highest note, for instance, or the
finesse a percussionist uses in soft dynamic ranges is readily apparent. But
with electronic music, there are not often visible gestures that allow
spectators to make this connection. The audience is left to stare at an
inanimate set of speakers.

This dissociation troubled Raes and caused him to reconsider the use of
acoustic instruments. Ultimately, he decided to combine traditional acoustic
instruments with his knowledge of electronics and began to construct
programmable, musical machines.

Today, Logos is home to 42 such instruments – an entire robot orchestra that
includes everything from organs and percussion to string and wind instruments.

While machines can get better with each advance in technology, humans have
limits, explains Raes. “The real idea is to go with these machines beyond what
is humanly possible, to extend the possibilities,” he says. Raes’ robotic piano,
for instance, can play much faster than a human. And it can hit many more than
10 keys at one time, each at a different dynamic level.

The robot orchestra is a composer’s dream – it can be programmed to play just
about anything imaginable. Its repertoire is extensive because the foundation’s
members are all active composers, and they invite guest artists to write for the
orchestra, too. There is even a composer’s guide for the robots available on the
Logos website.

The robots are typically controlled through a computer interface, but they
are also capable of perceiving their environment and responding to it. They are
dubbed the Man and Machine (M&M) Orchestra because they can respond to human
interactions – such as viola playing.

The robots can also respond to movement, like dancing. Through extensive
research into gesture, using both radar and sonar technology, Raes has created
an “invisible” instrument that allows dancers to control the M&M Orchestra
through the movements of their bodies. There’s just one catch: the dancers have
to be naked. Though unorthodox for a concert setting, the nudity is essential,
according to Raes, because clothing obscures the tracking system’s ability to
detect subtle movements.

This counter-culture mentality translates to Raes’ robot designs. He is
anti-copyright and doesn’t patent anything. All of his designs are open source
and are published on the Logos website.

This unparalleled research and prolific instrument building have gained him
much recognition in the field of experimental music technology. This past year,
electronic music artist Aphex Twin contacted Raes to see if he could buy one of
the robots. Raes refused but agreed to design and build a robot specifically for
the musician. After seven months of work, the percussive “Hit Anything Robot”
(<HAT>) made its debut at a recent Logos concert.

Though this project may bring the foundation popular recognition, not to
mention valuable funds, Raes says he’s finished with building instruments for
others. For one thing, he’s busy: he’s currently working on harmonium, bassoon,
and cello robots. But, more importantly, he wants to keep his new progeny with
their kin. That way, more composers have the opportunity to explore the bounds
of this one of a kind, ever-expanding orchestra.

Raes’ hope is that Logos and the robots will continue to serve as catalysts
for the development of avant-garde techniques for innovation in music for years
to come. “We are expanding expressive possibilities for composers and new
music,” he says, “which is what new music is all about."

http://www.logosfoundation.org/

Melissa Maki

(November 25, 2009)

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