RULES & GUIDELINES (EN)

ANIMUS LOCI

The Relationship Between Places and Creative Imaginary 

INTRODUCTION

Animus Loci is an original project created by Stefano Scippa Palleni with the support of Association La Barberia of Bologna, Italy. The purpose is the creation of original music that has an intimate relationship with the charactrer and architecture of selected sites of interest. Likewise it is our desire to promote the cultural exchange between the cultures of different countries, along with the search for new musical forms and the valorisation of local artistic and environmental heritage.

THE ANIMUS LOCI

With the progress of time and my artistic experience I have become increasingly aware about the influence of the place where music is performed was crucial both for successful performance for the pleasure of playing. Good acoustics offers the possibility to exalt expression and aesthetic of music, while a bad one can turn the joy of playing into an annoying if not unpleasant experience that echoes in time with the memory of the feelings associated to the circumstance and the location.

This is common experience for the musician that acquires familiarity with the problems of acoustics, where the geometry of the space, temperature and dampness have direct impact on sound quality. But places hold something more than the measurable parameters that you can finely control in the antiseptic recording studio.

Places have a form of their own, a special light and atmosphere that join together to create a unique personality perceptible by anyone who passes by. Buildings, forests, ruins and natural sites, are able to arouse emotions and common thoughts in the individuals and collective imagination. These psychological qualities are sometimes summoned by the name itself assumed by particular places, as in the case of mountain gorges, called horrids in latin laguage.

This phenomenology of the place embedded with a personal identity was defined by Latins with the locution Animus loci, means the soul of the place. Sometimes the personality possessed by a place can be of such intensity to attribute it the presence of a sentient spirit, a guardian of the perimeter, cloacking the space with the sacral aura of an oracle, making possible to question about important matters. The Romans defined this domestic divinity Genius loci, the genius of the place.

This belief dates back to anthropological animism and today its essence is diluited into a purely aesthetic trait well known to the architects. The designer measures himself with the environmental qualities (anciently you define geomantiche), in doing so he's called to fill the space with his imagination presence becoming the genius in which the natural characteristics are mirrored. Invariably the project outcome will depend on the ability to create a sinergy between the newly created structure and the conformation of the topos.

Returning to the music, we can easily notice as the acoustic instruments are composed of a vibrating body - strings, reeds and membranes - whose sound is amplified in the ambiance by a resonance box that produces the instrument characteristic sound. The human voice, for instance, is a natural instrument where the vibrations of the vocal chords are projected into the oral cavity and resonate in the rib cage.

Some musicians come to the conclusion that the final instrument is the ambient that confers to the music a distinct colour that influence the composition. Some famous artisitis ended up fond of special places like the nightly Olivier Messiaen's improvisations at the organ of Notre Dame de Paris. While Richard Wagner is renown to have requested Prince Ludwig the construction of huge theaters adapt to the grandiose character of his operas, pushing him the limit of his aesthetic exaltation as well bankruptcy. In the modern era we witess the fundamental role played by the acoustic qualities of the sites where some historical recordings have been realized: this is the case of Miles Davis' jazz manifesto Kind of Blue. The musicians and the sound engineer substitute the faint presence of genius of the place, where the architect was perhaps more aware of the history and traditions associated to the location.

In the 70s some composers have made notable works on purpose to make music for specific environments, one above all is Brian Eno's Music for Airport, that gave birth to a musical genre called Ambient, as a sub-current of minimalism. Nevertheless this music was ideally conceived for a general tipology of space certain type rather than named selected place, the aim was that to recall an abstract image in the mind of the listener. Debussy also remarked that he would have liked his impressionistic compositions were played in natural areas similar to those where he drew inspiration.

Therefore the architectonic, topographical and acoustics qualities of the space interact as a secondary force, perhaps even more intimate in the composer's experience, along with the styles and the cultural context. They directly have a direct impact on the form and the expression of the composition. The alchemy of the visual elements can stimulate the visionary power of imagination, letting them to emerge in the language of the artist. To his own surprise new topics apparently sprout in a sponteous way to shape the final Gestalt of the work.

The artist become the genius itself as well as the acting agent in the place, assuming the spirit of it. His practical intelligence relates to the collective unconscious and the history that flows in the lines of a limited spaces as if they were cables link to the universal, known as Spiritus Mundi. The Animus Loci is the source of inspiration for the ones who dive in it, a unique dominion, motionless axis in an ever-changing world, as was living genius of the solitary and haunting places seen by travellers and pilgrims knew how to read them.

OBJECTIVES

Animus Loci is an international, trans-cultural project oriented toward the production of original music, events and multimedia documentaries, in which two parts agree upon partnership. The main purpose is the production of unpublished music specifically composed for places of interest selected by the hosting associations. The undelying principle is that unfamiliar locations endowed with intense character may prompt the imagination to conceive new ideas. The compositions must necessarily be inspired to the site in which they will be performed and recorded, after a brief period of study. The principal goals are summed up in the followings points:

• Production of original musical compositions that have an intimate relationship with the architecture and the characteristics of the select locations.
• Promotion of the cultural exchange between citizens of different countries.
• Valorisation of the architectural, historical, environmental heritage of the hosting country.
• Promotion of the artists and the partners involved in the project.
• Active research of new musical forms via cultural contamination and mutual sharing of the artists' personal experience and tradition.
• Development of the project through the active search of commercial partners, due to the organization of events, contests and the diffusion of promotional material.

RECIPIENTS

The recipients of the project are the citizens and the associations, public institutions, private foundations and the industrial corporations of the European and extraeuropean countries. The organization and the artistic direction act as the facilitator between parties to undertake a relationship of free exchange and twinship within the project Animus Loci. It also meant to promote the project itself and the musical research.

RULES FOR THE PARTICIPANTS

The artists involved in the project apply to the following rules:

• The possible formats are solo, duo, trio, quartet, quintet.
• The instrumentation will exclusively acoustic.
• The compositions span from a minimum of two to a maximum of seven: three for the guests, three for the hosts ones and one collective tune.
• Two distinct events will take place: one open to the audience public and a second one to record and film the music in best condition and quality.
• The compositions must be original and unpublished, as much as possible free from idiomatic and stylistic stereotypes.
• The sites where the events and recording sessions take place will be selected by the hosts. Chosen locations can be more than one, so to value the beauty of the territory and give impulse to the composeres' imagination.
• Hospitality, travel and lodging are charged to the hosts. On occasion costs can be shared with the organization. Concerts and other promotion initiatives held by the hosts on purpose to finance the project are welcome.

PRODUCTION

The post-production of audio and video material that documents the project is of exclusive pertinence of the organization and will be published online on a dedicated official website. The recording sessions will be strictly environmental to preserve the nature and the acoustic qualities of the location. The organization and the participants are committed to supply adequate technical equipment that meets the following minimum requisites:

• One or two HD cameres for static shots.
• A HD camera for subjective shots.
• A portable digital recorder for the ambiental recordings
• Two condenser microphones with relative digital support for subjective recording.
• Some light spots for environmental illumination.
• Recording standards are 44.100 Hz and 16 bits, video format are established time by time.

SHARING THE MATERIAL

As they take part in the project, the participants understand and agree that the produced material, containing the performances and the compositions, can be used by the organization for promotional purpose. The following rules apply:

• The works realized within the project will be available to the public in the formats and occasions choosen by organization ( website, festivals, lectures, promotional material ).
• The participants retain the rights connected to the copyright and intellectual property of their composition along with the possibility to use them as they prefer. If they desired to share the audio and video material published on the project official site they are bond to preserve the integrity of the same, the logo, the titles and liner notes.
• Whenever the music were presented separated by the relative video the description, the liner notes and any references to the project must be etirely reported as in the official version.

PUBLICITY

The organization reserve the opportunity to actively search commercial partners, public institutions, private foundations and companies with the aim to find funding sponsors to further develop the project. In doing so the produced material could be displayed to promote the project itself. Eventual partners and sponsors have the possibility to apply their brand to the material produced under their patrocine as a vector of publicity. In the eventuality, all the involved artists will be informed and will partecipate to the sharing of possible profits.

CONTEST

After an early experimental phase, the possibility to introduce contest awards and temporary residences for artists is considered by the project. This will be evaluated whenever funds and sharing partners are available.

NOTE: Project Animus Loci is created and written by Stefano Scippa Palleni, in collaboration with the association La Barberia. The intellectual property and connected rights are exclusive property of the author.

Bologna, June 13th 2016

Stefano Scippa Palleni

Copyright © 2016 Stefano Scippa Palleni / All rights reserved to the author