Cypher Variations for chamber orchestra (111Asx1/2100/tymp/hp/cel/strings)is a short two-minute conceptual work created for Scott Kildall and Nathaniel Stern's Wikipedia Art remixed project which is part of the Padiglione Internet (the Internet Pavilion) for the 2009 Venice Biennale.
The piece is based around two cells, one of which spells "Wikipedia", presented in the winds/brass/harp/celesta/percussion which has a block-like, rather mandarin quality. The other cell spells out "Art" in the strings, and has a more active character. The two motives almost fit together, but the juxtaposition of B natural/B flat creates an inherent tension which causes them to repel, in the same way that Wikipedia Art was repelled from Wikipedia. The tympani part beginning around 1:00 is the musical illustration of a prominent Wikipedia editor who stated that he danced on the skulls of his opponents.
The work may be heard here.
This orchestral prelude was then used by Gregory Kohs (with whom I produce the Akahele blog) as the basis of his "Wikipedia Art : a Musical Manifesto".
I encourage other artists to participate in this initiative by creating their own Wikipedia Art remixes, uploading the remixed Wikipedia Art work somewhere on the Internet (YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Facebook, your own site), and then sending a link to: remix [at] wikipediaart [dot] org.
