“It is common to assume that geometrical space is the objective reality, and that personal and cultural spaces are distortions.”
—Yi-Fu Tuan, “Space and Place”

“In time, those Unconscionable Maps no longer satisfied, and the Cartographers Guilds struck a Map of the Empire whose size was that of the Empire, and which coincided point for point with it.”
—Jorge Luis Borges, “On Exactitude in Science”

“Personal observation is better than the exactest description, especially when, as here, the subject of investigation is an analysis of sensations themselves, which are always extremely difficult to describe to those who have not experienced them.”
—Hermann Helmholtz, On the Sensations of Tone

This is a recording of a group of five friends playing music for an hour. They are navigating two charts. One charts things that change and do not return while the other charts things that change but do return. The former has only one path while the latter has infinite. While the charts are things that I made, the paths are things the people playing the music made.

Reviews

Brian Olewnick: “Endlessly absorbing, a seemingly simple surface enveloping activity with an almost biological sense of complexity. Gorgeous work.”

Marc Medwin: “The slow arcs and points undulate and prod with a calm at the center, rendering the whole suspiciously close to silence. This is the ultimate magic Silver-Swartz makes, this blending to the point of obscurity of concepts that seemed familiar. His music works in the background as well as it stands up to the most intense listening, and this alone sets it apart from so much cheap imitation aimed at mass consumption. Both music and musicianship are impeccable.”

Ben Taffijn: “In de praktijk leidt dit tot een stuk waaraan geen duidelijk begin en eind zit, dat geen spanningsopbouw kent, geen melodie en geen ritme. De klanken vlieden voorbij, als wolken aan de hemel, in één langgerekte beweging. Een stuk om bij tot rust te komen.”