The Art of Memory

DAVID SHEA (CD)

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The Art of Memory is based on the book of Francis Yates of the same name which chronicles and examines the history of memory techniques from the ancient Greeks and Romans through the late renaissance and explores the technical to the most mystical connections. The recording is two seperate works. the first is The Art of Memory collection. Each piece was constructed from acoustic scored and improvised works, samples from films and records and many of the computer programs thta I had worked on during my time at Ircam in Paris. The return to sampling co-incided with the move to Australia and a focus on the Pacific Asian part of the globe. Each piece dealt with memory and conditioning through sound icons, styles, field recordings, film archive sources and recordings I had used on other cds and in other contexts. The live musicians were constructed from the classical ensembles I worked with while living in Brussels and the recordings I made leading to the two Classical Works cds and combined with samples found in Brussels and Melbourne with a healthy dose of electronic manipulation and techniques from the Ircam days.

The second work is a soundtrack for the film AM/PM by Belgian writer and director Herman Asselberghs. The film is constructed from still photographs which have slow motion tracked camera movement across them accompanied by a text narrated about the internalised emotions of global media and terrorism. A producer of the film Dial History, on the history of hijacking which I wrote the score to in 97, Herman created a virtual tribute to the work of Chris Marker of La Jete fame and I followed with an emotional yet very abstract computer score of which I created the suite for this cd.

The cd is a collection of works related directly to my search into the use of sampling and memory theatre based on one of the most influential books that led to much of my approach in constructing these sampled compositions and performances. For more info see the articles - Memory Fragments, Writings on Memory and The Art of Memory.