Random vs. Controlled Noise

Art is so powerful because of its controllable universe of predictability. Anything outside of that bubble, when predictability goes out the window, immediately creates anxiety.

We now experience it continuously with network latency--with dropouts and stalls when watching video online for example. But it doesn't even have anything to do with the digital world; It can exist in any medium or technology.

Artists have always seized the opportunity to evoke this feeling with 'noise'--even in text with cut-up.

This piece is a good example, both substantively and through its production. The music is full of static--the equivalent of a noisy signal on a cathode ray tube circa 1960. It seems like a new phenomenon but probably has existed since we lost our control of the darkness and silence of the natural world with the advent of electricity.

The irony of these BBC productions is that they rely on the integrity (neutrality) of the network system to convey what the potential anxieties are when if we couldn't see them, might be to our benefit. But the idea of "going dark" has a new meaning.

What if the internet stops working?