Pithoprakta is a group exhibition, inspired by a composition by Iannis Xenakis, composed during 1955- 56, for string orchestra (with two trombones, xylophone and wood block).
‘Pithoprakta’ means “action through probability’. Breaking down his scheme for 46 string instruments, Xenaxis drew an analogy between the string instruments moving independently (effectively instrumental solos) through their respective pitch ranges towards variable rhythmic and harmonic intersections and points of convergence, and gas molecules moving at varying speeds through shifting distributions with corresponding fluctuating temperatures.
The show is intended to appropriate the ground-breaking aspect of Xenakis’s composition’s orchestral scheme in particular, not the mathematical source from which his composition was written. Each of the artist’s work resonate different aspect of music— gestural, rhythmic and lyrical; rigorous diagram-like designs addressing tone, pitch and color, or even inspired by iconic printed images we associate with our favorite bands. Each artist’s work in the show being very different from every other artist’s, was to ‘sound off’ against each other, the individual works to create harmony (and tensions) and unexpected segues.
Another aspect of this Xenakis’ work that seemed to connect with painting, and selected works by the selected artists work more particularly, was the overall impact of the piece resulting in a static or immobile totalizing effect; the great complexity of the progression of movements by 46 distinct voices, moves independently with an idiosyncratic synchronicity, and somehow arrives at stillness, as if approaching the sort of thermal equilibrium the composer anticipated: and, yet retaining their energies independent of one another, not unlike the complexities of movements these paintings had undergone before arriving at stillness.
