Sunday 16 June 2013

'Irreversible Noise'



'Irreversible Noise', Inigo Wilkins, as part of the Pavilion programme
26th May, 6 - 8pm, Mexico Project Space, Leeds

Can everything be then seen as a rhythm, a pattern that is beyond our comprehension, and exists independently of our knowledge of it?
Inigo Wilkins is a transdisciplinary researcher at the Centre for Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths College and is addressing predictability, auditory cognition, topology and computation in relation to noise and music. He is a fellow working at Mute magazine and the Post Media Lab at Lüneburg University.
I'm not going to try and explain the structure or separate points mentioned in the sophisticated and highly complex thesis being developed as an academic project by Inigo Wilkins. Fractality, entropy, pathological compulsion, epistemology, inference, neural functionality, patterns, consequence, action, abductive cognition, systems, aesthesis, perception, gesture and communication where all highly relevent themes; needless to say, the lecture was fascinating, if (at times, owing to terminology) a little difficult to follow.
I'm a huge supporter of transdisciplinary methods of approaching problems and concepts, and for Wilkins, such a method was perfectly applied to the concepts of both 'irreversibility' and 'noise'. Through his talk, Wilkins created an interface and access point for musicians, artists, technologists, anthropologists and philosophers to come together in an attempt to deconstruct these terms - and the resulting investigation was brilliant. It was evident that Wilkins was in the depths of his research; no question was left ambiguous, and the thorough delivery of each section of the presentation was important, allowing us to follow his carved-out line of thought. What was most impressive was Wilkins' knowledge of each of the fields of research and investigation mentioned within the discussion - the transdiciplinary academic has no choice but to specialize in multiple areas of academia in order to fully understand the concept being explored, which certainly can be challenging.
In my opinion, this approach to learning reflects changes in the systems and networks by which we now operate: digital humanities are changing the way we think and operate in the digital age. Although for many members of the audience Wilkins' approach was overwhelming, it is exciting to me that through a single investigation, connection can be made between multiple subjects.
For more information, see the links below: