tomasz krakowiak

originating idea of this website is kept secret but my weakly activities are not. i sit here struggling to grasp satanic masochism of middle aged Man to exist in corporate structure and voluntarily agree to everyday idiocies. take simple matter of enforcing policies not to print in colour. why not use slogan to promote healthy printing hygene "do not abuse yellow magenta cyan, better use hues of ying and yang" or "magenta magenta why are you so low, 'niggas print 'n want stop that's all'" corny but might work. their way: schedule a meeting with printer specialist, specialist will explain ways to limit colour printout, create screenshare meeting, 1 hr of going through illogical permission structure, tiresome small talk, various methods of approach this interesting subject, get off the phone, report progress to manager, create document explaining what deckchairs still need to be rearranged on the titanic. can't wait for Monday!

Out of sentiment; one I thought lost long ago (do we loose sentiment, or rather temporarily forget of past interests. They grow on the soil of our characters regardless like domesticated weed).so I bought Moog's Werkstatt01 out of sentiment to my "horrible night" days, Pau Torres, Robert Piotrowicz, the little man inside that cries in the attic of memories. Dust finely covered then brought to whitenoise live, all it took was to gently turn a knob in winter's direction.

In a room at Tate Modern there is a three-quarter full glass of water on a high shelf. It is a work by Michael Craig-Martin called An oak tree, 1973. Beside it there is the following text: Q. To begin with, could you describe this work? A. Yes, of course. What I've done is change a glass of water into a full-grown oak tree without altering the accidents of the glass of water. Q. The accidents? A. Yes. The colour, feel, weight, size ... Q. Do you mean that the glass of water is a symbol of an oak tree? A. No. It's not a symbol. I've changed the physical substance of the glass of water into that of an oak tree. Q. It looks like a glass of water. A. Of course it does. I didn't change its appearance. But it's not a glass of water, it's an oak tree. Q. Can you prove what you've claimed to have done? A. Well, yes and no. I claim to have maintained the physical form of the glass of water and, as you can see, I have. However, as one normally looks for evidence of physical change in terms of altered form, no such proof exists. Q. Haven't you simply called this glass of water an oak tree? A. Absolutely not. It is not a glass of water anymore. I have changed its actual substance. It would no longer be accurate to call it a glass of water. One could call it anything one wished but that would not alter the fact that it is an oak tree. Q. Isn't this just a case of the emperor's new clothes? A. No. With the emperor's new clothes people claimed to see something that wasn't there because they felt they should. I would be very surprised if anyone told me they saw an oak tree. Q. Was it difficult to effect the change? A. No effort at all. But it took me years of work before I realised I could do it. Q. When precisely did the glass of water become an oak tree? A. When I put the water in the glass. Q. Does this happen every time you fill a glass with water? A. No, of course not. Only when I intend to change it into an oak tree. Q. Then intention causes the change? A. I would say it precipitates the change. Q. You don't know how you do it? A. It contradicts what I feel I know about cause and effect. Q. It seems to me that you are claiming to have worked a miracle. Isn't that the case? A. I'm flattered that you think so. Q. But aren't you the only person who can do something like this? A. How could I know? Q. Could you teach others to do it? A. No, it's not something one can teach. Q. Do you consider that changing the glass of water into an oak tree constitutes an art work? A. Yes. Q. What precisely is the art work? The glass of water? A. There is no glass of water anymore. Q. The process of change? A. There is no process involved in the change. Q. The oak tree? A. Yes. The oak tree. Q. But the oak tree only exists in the mind. A. No. The actual oak tree is physically present but in the form of the glass of water. As the glass of water was a particular glass of water, the oak tree is also a particular oak tree. To conceive the category 'oak tree' or to picture a particular oak tree is not to understand and experience what appears to be a glass of water as an oak tree. Just as it is imperceivable it also inconceivable. Q. Did the particular oak tree exist somewhere else before it took the form of a glass of water? A. No. This particular oak tree did not exist previously. I should also point out that it does not and will not ever have any other form than that of a glass of water. Q. How long will it continue to be an oak tree? A. Until I change it.

Got to hear some great Haydn symphonies (34 & 94) interpreted by conductor Adam Fischer http://haydnphil.org/en/fischer.htm I'm going to surprise myself and make hangover soup, following Fischer's recipe: http://www.haydnphil.org/en/newsletter/cooking.htm#Hangover off to LCBO, source of great hangover.

interesting installation if you are not a host that's easily annoyed by old "caller, turn your radio down when on-air" or like slowly developing idea that at the end might not be of your taste, want rapid removal of boring house guests (ones that never stop talking about new bathroom fixture, wall colours, automobile expenses, loud lawnmovers, beach party w. non-alcoholic beer, orangey sunset, weather in general). avoid boredom and tune in http://www.ubu.com/sound/neuhaus_radio.html

MACOSX ONLY 1. install prebuilt GCC binaries (Xcode installation not required) : https://github.com/kennethreitz/osx-gcc-installer 2. get SDIF library http://www2.siba.fi/PWGL/downloads.html 3. put sdif folder in /Users/your_user_name/PWGL-User/User-library 4. in PWGL: "File->Load library..." choose "sdif" click OK refer to sdif manual for patch examples

realized: at "photophono" in NY with Joda Clement. May, 2012

Kono bunshō o hatsuon suru.

16:28 15.11.12

performance: drive in reverse for a length of a parking lot while briskly counting backwards. Thu Nov 15 8:23 2012

had fun metaperforming Adachi Tomomi "100 pieces in 1 hour" "100 Pieces / 1 Hour" is a collection of 100 scores for performances. It was composed from 14:00 to 15:00 (JST) on March 11th 2011 at Tokyo. The composing process was a kind of performance and also a private ritual itself. All scores are independent and each for a single (or multiple) performance. They are direct responses to works by George Brecht, though it is not only one name. A few pieces include Japanese words."

Jin Sangtae (dotolim concert series in Seoul)

going to york U on friday to scout for performers/composers for my residency in January/February 2013. Thanks Casey Sokol!

i've been lucky to attend a performance by Ken Aldcroft (guitar) and Allison Cameron (cracklebox) recently and had idea of self- cultivating loops: http://uploaddownloadperform.net/TomaszKrakowiak/Loop

"Krakowiak's latest work on Bocian Records is a purely sonic affair. Performed on acoustic percussion instruments, it has little to do with percussion music. Each piece is named after a particular location and/or a sonic event present there. Krakowiak's monotonous playing a specific instrument seems to achieve an effect of a field recording made at the given location. What makes this effort successful is a broad range of his techniques and sonic intuition. These excellent recordings oscillate between subtle, single vibrations of metal and meaty wall of sound, with mechanical rasping in the middle of the spectrum. Abstract, yet very physical, and surprisingly direct. This is one of the most interesting free improv projects of this year, even though it isn't typical improvised music as it features structures characteristic of sound sculpture - no dramatic effects or themes, it is all about the texture of sound and interaction between its layers. Moulins seems to be an example of an interesting trend among drummers who play with free-improv groups but in their solo work focus on purely sonoristic explorations - see the latest releases from Will Guthrie (Sticks, Stones and Breaking Bones, 2012), Chris Cosano (Cut, 2012) or Eli Keszler (Cold, 2011). Krakowiak's release stands out here, though, owing to its originality. " (–) Daniel Brożek, Canti Illuminati

"I am not sure if I heard of Tomasz Krakowiak before, but he is a drummer, and on his solo CD he explores, in nine relatively short pieces (the album is just under thirty-one minutes), the nature of the drum kit. Is that the same as 'percussion'? Interesting point of course, but I'd say they are the same. Although its hard to recognize a drum kit in here, or in fact any percussion instrument. Take for instance 'Approaching Miller's Creek', which sounds like a train on rusty tracks, approaching from some distance but right from the start its quite loud. When we recognize a drum kit, in 'Monterry' for instance, it sounds like its being played by something mechanical that is about to loose control: fast and controlled. Krakowiak's work seems more about field recordings than about improvised percussion music, or more about drones that carefully placed hitting and beating surfaces. The music is loud, but never in a noisy sense, not as piercing electronics, but rather acoustic, closely amplified surfaces that are played back with an enormous power. If you turn up the music quite loud the menace becomes an audible feature in this music. I thought Blip was good, but perhaps because we expect so from Denley and whoever he works with, but the Krakowiak release is mind blowing. Nine short pieces, but highly varied in all their minimal exploration of a single idea. Excellent stuff." Frans De Waard