Specifically tailored to the architecture of Human Resources, untitled|unknown is a collaborative project initiated by L.A.-based Icelandic composer Davíð Brynjar Franzson, performed by Ensemble Adapter (Iceland/Germany) and mattie barbier (LA).

Adapted to the resonant frequencies of the room, untitled|unknown creates a slowly undulating mass of sound forms by utilizing subwoofers, the natural resonances of the building, and the feedback produced by modifying the instruments the performers play. The audience can position themselves freely anywhere in the space, come and go and move around as desired.

untitled|unknown (featuring mattie barbier, Ensemble Adapter, Davíð Brynjar Franzson). Human Resources Los Angeles. February 21, 2024.

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Exhibition text:

untitled|unknown is based on the feedback responses of human resources.

The space is a coupled resonant body, a type of a structure whose resonant features cannot be mathematically described, only sounded out.

This is a presentation of an extremely site-specific work, a work very much always in progress, an open rehearsal, a preview of what might be, of what might become.

Three performers are positioned in the middle of the space, forming a triangle, facing away from each other.

Behind them is a set of speakers, in front of them their instruments.

An undulating mass of sound forms, almost as if an extremely dense and heavy object is sitting at the center of the space.

Against this dense sound–entity, low pulsating bass tones emerge, split apart and form a scaffolding against which to sense the flow of time.

The piece is an active exploration of the sound of a room, the sounds of the instruments, and the compositional space that is woven against and between the two.

The piece explores the interaction between the standing frequencies of the space and the resonant frequencies of the instruments via an intertwined feedback mechanism.

The performers use augmented versions of their instruments to produce and control internal and external feedback via traditional and nontraditional performance methods, exploring the instruments as physical objects with their own resonant capabilities.

The continuous shifting of connections and shaping of possibilities turns the space into a dynamic score that the performers explore. The experience is partially pre-composed, partially being created in real-time.

The sound emerges from the interplay of the instruments and the space, effectively converting the space into a collaborative instrument.