Table of Contents
Mark Applebaum is a visual artist, musician, and composer who has several unusual instruments he has built. He is known for his satirical, comedic, and subversive compositions. The creation of whacky musical instruments is only a small facet of his artistic work. He puts “Pressure on the ontology of music as we know it conventionally”. Many of his instruments challenge the definition of a musical instrument. There is a pronounced relevance to this wiki in these subversive actions. He explores the idea of an instrument being an instrument off of the idea of “Affectively Loud” sound.
It is important to watch his TED talk to gain a better grasp of the ontological explorations he makes in the definition of a musical instrument (amongst other ontological explorations)
Defining Affectively Loud
Mark has described his work Tlön (6’) for 3 conductors and no players as “Affectively Loud”. The piece was also compared to an American Sign Language argument he witnessed while on public transit. He described the argument as loud but not specifically in its volume but instead in its affect. This comparison is made throughout his musical works, with the idea of affective volume being applied in his construction of musical instruments.
Instruments
Mousetrap
Mouseketier
“consists of threaded rods, nails, combs, doorstops, springs, squeaky wheels, ratchets, and a toilet tank flotation bulb.” 1)
Mark is the worlds greatest mouseketier player.
Hand gestures synchronized to sound
“Affectively Loud”
Florist
“Affectively Loud”
Notes
Mark has a very unusual and performative stage presence, even in his ted talk. There is an aspect of him as a musical instrument-personality which has a loud attitude in this actions.
