Gastrulation of Erik Satie: Composing Tensegrities of Parasol Mycology
A critical metaphysical portrait of the highly eccentric and unconventional work of French classical composer Erik Satie, metaphorically depicted in the dynamic process of constructing his work - radically unpredictable music theories, tonal asymmetries and bristling aural textures embodied in experimental compositions, and deftly anachronistic singular personal and professional philosophies. Inventing classical music metaphors through the prism of interdisciplinary science, Julie Rauer manifests aspects of developmental biology, epigenetic mutation, early scientific instruments invented to identify and record phenomena in astrophysics and engineering, and mycology, specifically capturing the deliberately ephemeral nature of Satie’s existentially fragile compositions, notably the tripartite elegance of his “Gymnopedies”, pieces which hover in truncated dragonfly life, before vaporizing as Odonata notes. Striking the mycological model of Parasola auricoma, an “Ink Cap” mushroom with a thoroughly unique, astonishingly brief life cycle of only two to three hours, during which this Coprinoid spontaneously blooms, disintegrates, sporulates, then vanishes without a trace, as spectral colonies cede to damp silent ground emptied of civilization.