KAMRAN SADEGHI -> Loss Less
Friday Feb.26 15h CET | Loss Less | Rencontres International Paris/Berlin at Musée du Louvre | Installation multimédia | mov | couleur | 22:53 | USA | 2021
“Loss Less” is a site-specific audiovisual work recorded inside of the defunct nuclear cooling tower Satsop. In the 1970’s, the U.S. was more than 20 years into its nuclear power program. In Washington State, a consortium of public utilities began what was to be the largest single nuclear power project in the country’s history. The construction was suspended shortly before the facility was completed and what remains is a structure 129 meters across at the base, and rising to a height of nearly 152 meters. Kamran Sadeghi used its natural acoustics to compose and reshape sound, capturing the architectural integrity and holistic immediacy of the nuclear cooling tower, while symbolically removing its entire existence. Maintaining an emphasis on the sound, Sadeghi created a 3D abstraction from a still taken on location. The title ‘Loss Less’ is derived from the term lossless compression - a process that allows for the preservation and perfect reconstruction of data (audio). In this case the audio was not preserved, but intentionally degraded.
Loss Less
Kamran Sadeghi
FORMAT: Music Album, Live Concert, Sound Installation,
PERFORMANCES: UCLA ART/SCI Center
released March 13, 2020
Composed, Mixed, Mastered: Kamran Sadeghi
Residency: Environmental Aesthetics
Photo: Richard Worsfold
PERFORMANCES: UCLA ART/SCI Center
released March 13, 2020
Composed, Mixed, Mastered: Kamran Sadeghi
Residency: Environmental Aesthetics
Photo: Richard Worsfold
TOOLS: Original: Stereo Mic, Stereo PA System, Pro-Tools. Rework: Modular Synthesis, FFT, Live Processing, Ableton.
In 2008 Kamran Sadeghi was selected resident artist at Satsop. Inspired by Alvin Lucier’s “I am Sitting In A Room” (1970)—Sadeghi amplified an original electronic music passage with a length of 2 minutes into the open aired structure and recorded the outcome of the tower's acoustic response. This recording was then re-amplified back into the structure and re-recorded. The process was repeated ten times, and with each cycle the natural acoustics of the tower began to reshape the original passage until it disappeared entirely. This approach captured the architectural integrity and holistic immediacy of the nuclear cooling tower while symbolically removing it’s entire existence.
he result is a unique 25 minute sonic experience full of audible artifacts that document space, time and our environment. The composition was created on location and in real-time, allowing all natural elements such as wind, rain, wildlife, resonance and feedback-distortion to be a part in the process and therefore the end result. No post production effects were used.
The ‘Rework’ version is a studio interpretation recorded live using samples of the original composition, processed through effects and used as a guide for added atmospheric electronic tones as counterpoint. The large throbbing bass drum pattern emphasizes the weight and physicality of the cooling tower, while recalling a sacred ceremonial chants or drums used to converse with or drive away destructive spirits.
The title ‘Loss Less’ is a play on the term lossless compression—a type of process that allows for the preservation and and perfect reconstruction of data (audio). In this case the audio was not preserved, but intentionally degraded. The title also taps into the reality of catastrophic loss and destruction caused by nuclear energy.
In 2008 Kamran Sadeghi was selected resident artist at Satsop. Inspired by Alvin Lucier’s “I am Sitting In A Room” (1970)—Sadeghi amplified an original electronic music passage with a length of 2 minutes into the open aired structure and recorded the outcome of the tower's acoustic response. This recording was then re-amplified back into the structure and re-recorded. The process was repeated ten times, and with each cycle the natural acoustics of the tower began to reshape the original passage until it disappeared entirely. This approach captured the architectural integrity and holistic immediacy of the nuclear cooling tower while symbolically removing it’s entire existence.
he result is a unique 25 minute sonic experience full of audible artifacts that document space, time and our environment. The composition was created on location and in real-time, allowing all natural elements such as wind, rain, wildlife, resonance and feedback-distortion to be a part in the process and therefore the end result. No post production effects were used.
The ‘Rework’ version is a studio interpretation recorded live using samples of the original composition, processed through effects and used as a guide for added atmospheric electronic tones as counterpoint. The large throbbing bass drum pattern emphasizes the weight and physicality of the cooling tower, while recalling a sacred ceremonial chants or drums used to converse with or drive away destructive spirits.
The title ‘Loss Less’ is a play on the term lossless compression—a type of process that allows for the preservation and and perfect reconstruction of data (audio). In this case the audio was not preserved, but intentionally degraded. The title also taps into the reality of catastrophic loss and destruction caused by nuclear energy.
