recent arts: hypertext

Hypertext is the third album by Recent Arts, the A/V duo formed by media artist Valentina Berthelon and multi-disciplinary artist Tobias Freund. Out via Japan's Reiten, its nine tracks mirror Recent Arts new, forthcoming A/V show, following their previous debuts also at Atonal and Berghain's Säule of the recent years. Hypertext video projections and experimental electronic music synergize ideas of non-linear data and information processing, drawing parallels to computational thinking with the way our human brains biologically process information. Visuals are the catalysts for the music, inspired by the overwhelming amount of information and the speed at which we consume different media, featuring a cacophony of hundreds of different media, poetry, images of surveillance and clips of artificial intelligence and machine learning. For the visuals, Valentina uses jarring and intense visual juxtaposition to create moments of both connection and displacement. References mix and intermingle, creating new meanings. Symbols become charged, inviting the audience deeper into the vortex. Computers similarly digest information, but unlike the human brain, their ability to generate information is not exceeded by their capacity to understand. For the sound, Tobias and Valentina made together droning, moody soundscapes, almost as though the internal voice of the computer world was captured and recorded. Inspired by the visual aesthetic of hyperlinks collaged and non-linear nature, the album reflects this in the ambience, where samples float in and out of contact with the listener, catching and holding attention before floating away awash by more elements and compositions. There is a definite blurring of the digital and the biological, voices sound distant and robotic, but droning soundscapes feel natural and textured with an organic tone. In the first track "Just Be There" spoken word samples mix with ethereal chiming, reminiscent of the start-up modems from Web 1.0. "Pull The Emergency Breaks" similarly mixes poetry with uncanny atmospheres popping in and out until it finally climaxes in a collage of sounds. On the B-side "Invisible Waves" finishes off the record with a volatile dervish of digital strings and deep breathing.