New release: “Water-Nature-City” by Cem Güney

Water-Nature-City

After the acclaimed “Praxis”, Crónica is very proud to present Cem Güney’s new release, “Water-Nature-City”!

Water
August 2012. Text & Speech: Cem Güney.

Recorded sounds of water are used in their raw and manipulated forms. The source materials are from the following locations:

  • ÇemberlitaÅŸ Hamamı: A historical Turkish bath constructed by the great Ottoman architect, Mimar Sinan. The hamam recordings are courtesy of Marc Behrens.
  • Waves slowly hitting the reefs as the moon is beautifully shining on the coast of Akyaka, a tranquil town situated at the far end of the Gulf of Gökova, Turkey.
  • Multiple streams generating various timbres were recorded at the Sarıkaya Canyon, KuÅŸadası National Park.

In the second half of Water, there is a brief dialogue between an Artificial Intelligence Creator and a sentient Artificial Intelligent being. Following the dialogue, there is a speech explaining an AI development/evaluation technique that is a conceptual realization of mine, based on the process of Mind Uploading.

“Specific questions are asked in order to stimulate the prefrontal cortex of the AI’s brain where the philosophical reasoning engine is situated. Hence, this post-stimulation state enables a stage for development; data is transmitted and certain philosophical questions are asked to monitor and study the AI’s orchestration of thoughts”.

“When it comes to determining certain criterias for the evaluation of the AI’s output there occurs a thin line between considering the interwining and clashing ideas and effects of empiricism and rationalism”.

Furthermore, speech is transformed in various ways to metaphorically depict the flow of data transfer inherent in the process of mind uploading.

Nature
September 2012.

The first group of sounds is from parts of a 21 km bicycle road that begins from Bostanlı (the district where I live in İzmir) to the Park of Natural Life in Sasalı-Çiğli, the biggest zoo in Turkey. The bicycle road follows a coastline that is a protected area for various species of birds. The second group of sounds was recorded at Dalyan, a lovely town in the Muğla Province, located between the well known districts of Marmaris and Fethiye on the south-west coast of Turkey. Life in Dalyan revolves around the Dalyan Çayı River which flows past the town. The boats that ply up and down the river are the preffered means of transportation to all local sites.

City I
January 2013. Composed via computer, radio and no-input mixing board. Text: Extract from the Atrocity Exhibition by J.G. Ballard. Speech: Cem Güney.

In CITY I, the city is portrayed around the notion of certain interferences. A city has its own particular dynamics, however interferences are abstract realities that can be interpreted differently according to an individual’s experience of those dynamics.

City II
November 2012. Composed via computer, radio and no-input mixing board.

CITY II projects the transition from the macro to the micro-elements of the city. These elements are utilized overtly and covertly, as much as their characteristics enable to transform themselves. This transformation reflects the personalization of the city.

“Water-Nature-City” was composed and recorded by Cem Güney, mastered by Miguel Carvalhais, with cover art by Alessandro Segalini.

You can download “Water-Nature-City” from Crónica’s bandcamp page, from Boomkat or other selected retailers in a variety of formats!