Tractatus

title

1995

year

Tibor Szemző

author

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synopsis

Tractatus (1991—95) is a minimalist composition for human voice, musicians and narrators, originally created for Wittgenstein Tractatus (1992), a video essay in seven parts by Péter Forgács inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Tractatus logico—philosophicus. This symbolic illustration of Wittgenestein’s theories of logic, language, reality and representation, combining found and archival footage, photographs, texts spoken in many languages, was awarded the first prize of the 4th Sound Basis Video Art Festival WRO 93 in 1993. More ↓↑

Two years later, Tractatus by Szemző was premiered in Wrocław during the concert Night of the Composers and broadcast live in Polish TV. The core of the piece is a male voice humming repeatedly few notes, accompanied by spoken text snippets from the writings by Wittgenstein’s, sound and percussion synthesizers slowly progressing to build a hypnotic, meditative structure.

Place and date of documentation: 5th Media Art Biennale WRO 95, television studio, Wrocław, May 1995

video

artist's bio

Tibor Szemző (HU), b.1955, is a composer, musician, author of video tapes, experimental films, audiovisual installations and performances showcased around the world. Szemző made his name as a musician and composer in the late 70s. He was the founder of acclaimed Hungarian bands: Group 180 and The Gordian Knot Company. Over the years, his interest has turned increasingly to film and cinematographic audiovisual installations, often using documentary and archival footage, and historical text sources.