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Iannis Xenakis Concerning Time PDF
Iannis Xenakis Concerning Time PDF
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IANNIS XENAKIS
that both are blocked?It is as if each photon "knew" what the other was
doing, and instantaneously, which is contrary to the special theory of
relativity.
Now, this experiment could be a starting point for the investigation of
more deeply seated propertiesof space, freed from the tutelage of time. In
this case, could the "nonlocality" of quantum mechanics perhaps be
explained not by the hypothesis of "hidden variables"in which time still
intervenes, but rather by the unsuspected and extravagant properties of
nontemporal space, such as "spatial ubiquity," for example?
Let us take yet one more step. As space is perceptible only across the
infinity of chains of energy transformations,it could very well be nothing
but an appearanceof these chains. In fact, let us consider the movement of
a photon. Movement means dis-placement. Now, could this dis-placement
be considered an autogenesis of energy, an energetic parthenogenesisof the
photon by itself at each step of its trajectory (continuous or quantized)?
This continuous auto-creation of the photon, could it not in fact be space?
ANOTHERQUESTION
IN MusIC
In the following comments, the points of view on time are taken from
music in gestation or under observation. This is not to say that my preced-
ing comments do not concern the musician. On the contrary,if it is incum-
bent on music to serve as a medium for the confrontation of philosophic or
scientificideas on the being, its evolution, and their appearances,it is essen-
tial that the composer at least give some serious thought to these types of
inquiry. Furthermore,I have deliberatelynot approachedthe psychological
apprehension of time from higher levels, for example, the effects of the
temporal dynamic experienced while listening to a symphony or to elec-
troacousticalmusic.
What is time for a musician?What is the flux of time which passesinvisi-
ble and impalpable?In truth, we seize it only with the help of perceptive
reference events, thus indirectly, and on condition that these reference-
events be inscribed somewhere, do not disappearwithout leavinga trace. It
would suffice that they exist in our brain, in our memory. It is fundamental
that the phenomena-referencesleave a trace in my memory, for if not, they
would not exist. Indeed, the underlying postulate is that time, in the sense
of an impalpable, Heraclitianflux, has signification only in relation to the
person who observes, to me. Otherwise, it would be meaningless. Even
assuming the hypothesis of an objective flux of time, independent from
me, its apprehension by a human subject, thus by me, must be subject to
the phenomena-referenceof the flux, first perceived, then inscribed in my
memory. Moreover, this inscription must satisfythe condition that it be in
a manner which is well circumscribed,well detached, individualized, with-
out possible confusion. But that does not suffice to transform a phe-
nomenon that has left tracesin me into a referentialphenomenon. In order
that this trace-image of the phenomenon become a reference mark, the
notion of anteriorityis necessary. But this notion seems to be circularand
as impenetrable as the immediate notion of flux. It is a synonym. Let us
alterour point of view, if only slightly. When events or phenomena are syn-
chronic, or rather if all imaginable events were synchronic, universal time
would be abolished, for anterioritywould disappear.By the same token, if
events were absolutely smooth, without beginning or end, and even with-
out modification or "perceptible" internalroughness, time would likewise
find itself abolished. It seems that the notions of separation, of bypassing,
of difference, of discontinuity, which are strongly interrelated, are prereq-
uisite to the notion of anteriority.In order for anteriorityto exist, it is nec-
essaryto be able to distinguish entities, which would then make it possible
to "go" from one to the other. A smooth continuum abolishes time, or
rather time, in a smooth continuum, is illegible, inapproachable. Con-
tinuum is thus a unique whole filling both space and time. We are once
1. We perceive separableevents.
2. Thanks to separability,these events can be assimilatedto pointsof refer-
ence in the flux of time, points which are instantaneously hauled up
outside of time because of their trace in our memory.
3. The comparison of the pointsof referenceallows us to assign to them dis-
tances, intervals, durations. A distance, translatedspatially, can be con-
sidered as the displacement, the step, the jump from one point to
another, a nontemporal jump, a spatialdistance.
4. It is possible to repeat, to link together these steps in a chain.
-translated by RobertaBrown
NOTES
1. The idea of the Big Bang, a consequence of the shift (expansion of the
universe) toward the red, is not accepted by all physicists. See Nikias
Stavroulakis,"Solitons et propagationd'actions suivant la relativitegen-
erale," Annalesde la FondationLouisde Broglie12, no. 4 (1987).
2. See the last chapter of Iannis Xenakis, FormalizedMusic (Bloomington,
Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1971).