AUDIO TRACKS AND POEMS

Shared Horizons is a case study in Scott Felluss's exploration of intercultural aesthetics through digital music composition, central to his Practice as Research (PaR) methodology. This project merges elements from distinct musical traditions, drawing heavily on Indian classical sounds intertwined with Electronic Dance Music (EDM), creating a sonic landscape that reflects the fusion of cultural forms and the rasa of fear (Bhayanaka).

The composition reflects the complexities of intercultural collaboration, where the blending of organic and digital elements raises critical questions about cultural exchange, appropriation, and ethical creation. Rather than aiming for seamless transitions between different cultural sounds, Shared Horizons invites listeners to engage with the tensions, breaks, and harmonies that emerge in the digital mediation of traditional and modern musical forms.

As a case study, Shared Horizons operates as more than just a musical experiment; it is an auditory reflection of the broader themes in Felluss’s research into digital ethnography. The music, much like the performances it accompanies, is both a product of and a response to the digital platforms it inhabits, challenging the listener to reconsider the boundaries of cultural engagement in the digital age.

Read “The First Performance”: CLICK HERE

The First Performance Poem is an evocative exploration of mythic imagery and intercultural symbolism, written by Scott Felluss. Rooted in the aesthetic and thematic intersections of Indian mythologies, the poem takes readers on a journey through shifting landscapes where animals like the Jackal, Crow, and Owl serve as symbolic figures, embodying forces of transformation, vigilance, and mystery.

The poem features hypnotic, dream-like language that conjures an ancient world teeming with hidden truths. Through vivid metaphors and layered symbolism, The First Performance Poem operates as an extension of Felluss’s Position project, connecting the aesthetic principles of rasa with poetic expression. This poem draws readers into an atmosphere charged with the rasa of Vigor (Vira), blending the mystical and the visceral as it explores themes of identity, change, and cultural entanglement. As part of the broader Practice as Research (PaR) methodology, the poem serves not only as a standalone work but as a textual counterpart to the performance, where the boundaries of storytelling, performance, and cultural reflection converge.

The original soundtrack for Position forms an integral part of the performance’s exploration of intercultural aesthetics and the rasa of fear (Bhayanaka). Composed as a sonic extension of the choreography, the soundtrack fuses digital and organic sounds to evoke the psychological and emotional undercurrents that drive the performance.

Layered with rhythmic pulses, unsettling electronic textures, supermodern sounds, and fragmented vocalizations, the music creates an immersive atmosphere where the boundaries between self and Other, the physical and the digital, blur and dissolve. The score’s dissonant tones mirror the performer’s journey through complicity, appropriation, and surveillance, serving as both a backdrop and an active force that shapes the movement.

This soundtrack is both an accompaniment and a collaborator in the performance. It amplifies the thematic concerns of Position, making the sonic landscape an essential part of the Practice as Research (PaR) methodology. Whether experienced alongside the visuals or on its own, the soundtrack invites listeners to engage with the performance’s deeper layers, where sound becomes a vehicle for critical inquiry and self-reflexivity.