Call me when I’m not at home

World premiere of Anton Batagov’s Dialogue at Expocentre
by Julia Bederova, Newspaper Segodnya, October 1995

 

PRELUDE. This event at Expocentre has no contemporary analogues either in the sphere of advertising or of that of high art. Its essence is a shocking unification of an advertising project and a completely independent work of art. It is – and this is important – nevertheless musical. If the fine arts and architecture have long inhabited mundane commercial reality in absolutely natural partnerships, then music either strictly distances itself from this reality, or reacts to it as if to an unbearable spring allergy, or embedding itself into the system of coordinates of a commercial show, loses all signs of a human (i.e. aesthetic) appearance.

SYSTEM. This mono-opera for telephone voice and minimalist composer was commissioned by DialogBank. Gennady Josefavchius recorded the phrases that are heard by users of CrownNet Telebanking completing an account transaction with their help and the correct use of the telephone switchboard. “Press 1 to choose roubles, transaction not executed, for help, press 0, you entered an incorrect PIN-code, current account, transfer account,” and so on.

The libretto consists of functional texts grouped in parts throughout the opera. Actors – sampled voices of the network, play a leading, controlling role, and the main hero, silent but present, acts in the space of the network and of his own internal world.

GAME. “Dialogue” is a fairytale-opera. Based on a mythological scheme – the hero in himself, the hero leaves himself and enters the system, lives, does something, dreams, meets evil forces, the good come to the rescue, and good prevails. The titles of the chapters are written in all-caps in this article. But an account of the story – is only part of what’s happening.

LYRICAL DIGRESSION. Action-dialogue that unfolds in the world between two parallel existences – the perspectives of the bank and the individual. There meets the hero, acting in the first person, and his companion – a shadow at the other end of the line, talking from nowhere. In a bright and individual idea, the individual world screws itself into the dimension of the bank, which in turn, appears as a refined presence in the world of art. The objects of the delicate musical text evolve from grandiose abstractions of actual reality in which “contactless communication” is normal and natural. Lists of numeric, alphabetical, and verbal codes, money and information roam in strict order and secret movement, where answering machines are friendlier than dogs, and pagers more punctual than carrier pigeons. I am in the system and can come and go; I can dial the asterisk. Namely the possibility of coming and going become musical elements. Smooth plastic speech. Plastic sound constructions. Phantoms of the world of telebanking world flicker, diligently serve the hero-client , nearly kill him, rescue, leave.

CONFLICT. An incredible combination of milieu, decorations, the target of the event and the composition of an avant-garde composer sounds like delirium. All black, white, matte, polished, compact, and knobs everywhere. Piece by piece, bankers obediently swallow the music written as part of a unique advertising campaign. The composition remains absolutely independent, closed to a degree of extremism, emotionally concentrated to the limit, and to the highest degree rationally harsh.

The music of Batagov is a bright, cold sound, compact formulae, minimalist textures, rational simplicity and magic at the same time, excellent use of high technologies. This musical construction is much more complex than the kitsch advertising clips being played on the monitors. They are multi-dimensional and esoteric.

DÉNOUMENT: A charming idea that manifests itself in many different ways. The opera-fairytale reminds some of the works of Philip Glass ( “ Koyaanisqatsi ”, “Powaqatsi”) because it creates a kind of parallel reality. With Glass, we get a strict order of imperceptible or obvious movement in powerful waves, currents of automobiles, birds, and animals. With Batagov we get the layers of reality absolutely unacquainted with musical art: a secret world of bank operations, a dialogue of answering machines and the silence of the actor.

POSTLUDE: To get into the music, press “asterisk”. In the mono-opera, commercial reality becomes aesthetic reality.