beyond the accident of time — percussion and voices (2019)
Commissioned by The Noguchi Museum, open duration
This work honors Isamu Noguchi’s never fully-realized Bell Tower for Hiroshima, 1950 (partially reconstructed 1986). The original bell used for the first movement is Noguchi’s Bell Image (1956–57). The original bells used in the last movement are custom-made oversized sleigh bells—Slay Bells by Adam Morford of Morfbeats—two 6”, two 5” and one 4” in diameter.
The premiere was part of a concert in celebration of the exhibition Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan. As a whole, the works on the concert titled Changing and Unchanging Sound, considered being open or closed, amplifying the sentiment of Noguchi and Hasegawa’s conversations about cultural exchanges. In working through sonic and visual forms of how things break up and how they’re put back together, the works on the concert all explore questions about what it is to be human, living in uncertainty and growing after destruction. “Lanzilotti’s score brings us together across the world in remembrance, through the commitment of shared sonic gestures.” (Cities & Health)
This score was created for the premiere to give the performers specific guidelines for the bells chosen for this musical reconstruction. Noguchi imagined the bells for Bell Tower for Hiroshima coming from all over the world. In my piece, I interpret the sculpture not as a physical object that would be built in Hiroshima, but as a sonic concept that could be recreated by bells around the world. As we listen and recreate this space for reflection, we honor and remember what the sculpture represents. This score is only a starting point.
Premiered June 13, 2019 at The Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, New York by Argus Quartet, Johanna Lundy, and Lanzilotti. Special thanks to the museum staff for their ongoing support and generosity in letting us work with Noguchi’s sculptures as sound objects. Photos by Don Stahl.
この作品は、彫刻家イサム・ノグチがついに完成させることのできなかった1950年の作品「広島の鐘楼」（1986年に部分的に再建された）を称えるものです。ノグチはこの作品「広島の鐘楼」のために鐘が世界中から集められることを構想しました。私の作品では、この彫刻が物理的な彫刻作品というよりは、世界中の鐘によって再現できる音の世界ととらえました。耳を澄まし、深く考える空間を作ることで、私たちはこの彫刻が何を表しているかを思い出すことができるでしょう。深く考え、反省することを促すこの空間に耳を澄まし、再現することで、私たちはこの彫刻が象徴しているものに対し敬意を払い、記憶に留めます。
そして、この楽譜は、その出発点にすぎません。— Program note translated by Dai Fujikura
Photos from a performance of beyond the accident of time on the Cosy Nook series, UK, November 2019. (Gabrielle Hb and Emmanuelle Waeckerlé in rehearsal). In this iteration, most of the bells were borrowed from local musicians/artists to honor Noguchi’s concept that the bells would come from all over the world. In this way, the piece becomes a memory of the original resonance, as the musicians become actively responsible for the gathering/remembering.
beyond the accident of time is included in Walking From Scores, an anthology of text and graphic scores to be used while walking, from Fluxus to the critical works of current artists, through the tradition of experimental music and performance, gathered and presented by Elena Biserna. Works by Peter Ablinger, Milan Adamčiak, Blank Noise, George Brecht, Cornelius Cardew, Seth Cluett, Milan Knížák, Alison Knowles, Takehisa Kosugi, Anne Leilehua Lanzilotti, Alvin Lucier, Max Neuhaus, Pauline Oliveros, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Michael Parsons, La Monte Young, and others.
beyond the accident of time — for percussion and voices. All players should play off the score for ease of ensemble.
Set of five scores and Morfbeats Slay Bell rental available within the United States only. Includes one way shipping (return shipping not included). Please choose this option in the dropdown menu below, or fill out the inquiry form at checkout.
Digital download of the score for beyond the accident of time for percussion and voices. All players should play off the score for ease of ensemble.
Set of five scores and Morfbeats Slay Bell rental available within the United States only. Includes one way shipping (return shipping not included). Please choose this option under the PRINT EDITION score for this item, or fill out the inquiry form at checkout.
Past Performances
February 23, 2024 — Safeeya Alblooshi and Hasan Hujairi lead beyond the accident of time, Listening for Traces: Conflict, Sound and Memory, RIZQ Art Initiative, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Sunday, January 28, 2024 — Wild Up, performs Sky Gate, ahupuaʻa, hānau ka ua, koʻu inoa, and beyond the accident of time, followed by a set featuring the music of inti figgis-vizueta, Darkness Sounding, Floating + TreePeople, Los Angeles, CA More Info
Thursday, October 12, 2023 — Leilehua Lanzilotti, Sofija Kirsanova, Jessica Leigh, Alice Hurwood, and Sophie Marcheff, Australian Premiere, the strong pulse beneath the charred earth: the musical world of Leilehua Lanzilotti, Hanson Dyer Hall, University of Melbourne, Australia
Saturday, July 1, 2023 — beyond the accident of time, performance curated and directed by Sasha Amaya & Naomi Woo in memory of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada, Chinese Gardens at the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural and Community Centre, Canada
Friday, June 30, 2023 — beyond the accident of time, performance curated and directed by Sasha Amaya & Naomi Woo in memory of the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Exclusion Act in Canada, Chinese Gardens at the Winnipeg Chinese Cultural and Community Centre, Canada
Sunday, April 2, 2023 — Argus Quartet, Newman Center for the Performing Arts, University of Denver, CO
Saturday, March 25, 2023 — Argus Quartet, Arts for Life series, The Carpenter Performing Arts Center, CSULB, CA
Thursday, March 9, 2023 — Argus Quartet, ArtPower, University of California San Diego, CA
Friday, September 23, 2022 — Lisa Hall leads beyond the accident of time at IMMSANE, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Saturday, July 16, 2022 — ビヨンド・ザ・アクシデント・オブ・タイム（日本初演）演奏：アンサンブル・ノマド Ensemble NOMAD (Japan Premiere), Born Creative Festival, Tokyo, Japan
Thursday, May 26, 2022 — Chamber Music Hawaiʻi, City & County of Honolulu Civic Center, Honolulu, HI
May 6–9, 2021 — Rewire International festival for adventurous music: Acts of Air, relational sound art works enacted and performed across The Hague, Netherlands
Tuesday, April 27, 2021 — Acts of Air Workshop presented by the Concordia Electroacoustic Studies Student Association (CESSA), Montreal, Canada
Friday, March 19, 2021 — Acts of Air Workshop with Sound Making Space, London, UK
Sunday, February 7, 2021 — Acts of Air: TOMA, The Other MA (TOMA*), Southend-on-Sea, UK
Tuesday, December 1, 2020 — Acts of Air: Goldsmiths, Unit for Sound Practice Research (SPR) Goldsmiths University of London, UK
Sunday, August 9, 2020 – Monday, August 31, 2020 — 08:15, 11:02: time, memory and nuclear weapons, An online exhibition by London CND, opening on Nagasaki Day, 2020.
Thursday, July 16, 2020 (ongoing) — Acts of Air: Reshaping the urban sonic, Prepare, enact, and trace this solo version of the work as part of Un-Earthed: A festival of listening and environment
Thursday, July 16, 2020 — Launch event for Acts of Air Online Exhibit, part of Un-Earthed: A festival of listening and environment hosted by Creative Research into Sound Arts Practice (CRiSAP), a University of the Arts London research centre, based at London College of Communication, London, UK
Thursday, January 30, 2020 — DePaul Ensemble 20+ Concert Inspired by Architecture: Scores, Plans, and Paintings, DePaul University, Chicago, IL
Saturday, November 23, 2019 — Cosy Nook Ensemble, Cosy Nook, London, UK
Thursday, June 13, 2019 — Argus Quartet, Johanna Lundy, and Lanzilotti, The Noguchi Museum, Long Island City, NY
