Each Thursday in the Disquiet Junto group, a new compositional challenge is set before the group’s members, who then have just over four days to upload a track in response to the assignment. Membership in the Junto is open: just join and participate. (A SoundCloud account is helpful but not required.) There’s no pressure to do every project. It’s weekly so that you know it’s there, every Thursday through Monday, when you have the time.
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, June 7, 2021, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
These are the instructions that went out to the group’s email list (at tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto):
Disquiet Junto Project 0492: Kintsugi Rework The Assignment: Employ the Japanese technique of mending broken ceramics as a metaphor for remixing.
Step 1: This week’s project explores the ceramic method called “kintsugi.” If the term is unfamiliar, read up on it a bit. Here’s a description from an article in the Washington Post: “That means ‘golden joinery’ in Japanese, and it refers to the art of fixing broken ceramics with a lacquer resin made to look like solid gold. Chances are, a vessel fixed by kintsugi will look more gorgeous, and more precious, than before it was fractured.”
Step 2: Consider how kintsugi can be employed, through metaphor, as a means to rework/remix an existing piece of music.
Step 3: Take an existing track, perhaps one of your own, and by some means “break” it.
Step 4: Take the “broken” piece of music from step 3 and make it whole by employing a musical adoption of kintsugi.
Source for above quote, from art critic Blake Gopnik: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/02/AR2009030202723.html
Seven More Important Steps When Your Track Is Done:
Step 1: Include “disquiet0492” (no spaces or quotation marks) in the name of your tracks.
Step 2: If your audio-hosting platform allows for tags, be sure to also include the project tag “disquiet0492” (no spaces or quotation marks). If you’re posting on SoundCloud in particular, this is essential to subsequent location of tracks for the creation of a project playlist.
Step 3: Upload your tracks. It is helpful but not essential that you use SoundCloud to host your tracks.
Step 4: Post your tracks in the following discussion thread at llllllll.co:
https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0492-kintsugi-rework/
Step 5: Annotate your tracks with a brief explanation of your approach and process.
Step 6: If posting on social media, please consider using the hashtag #disquietjunto so fellow participants are more likely to locate your communication.
Step 7: Then listen to and comment on tracks uploaded by your fellow Disquiet Junto participants.
Additional Details:
Deadline: This project’s deadline is the end of the day Monday, June 7, 2021, at 11:59pm (that is, just before midnight) wherever you are. It was posted on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
Length: The length of your finished track is up to you.
Title/Tag: When posting your tracks, please include “disquiet0492” in the title of the tracks, and where applicable (on SoundCloud, for example) as a tag.
Upload: When participating in this project, be sure to include a description of your process in planning, composing, and recording it. This description is an essential element of the communicative process inherent in the Disquiet Junto. Photos, video, and lists of equipment are always appreciated.
Download: It is always best to set your track as downloadable and allowing for attributed remixing (i.e., a Creative Commons license permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution, allowing for derivatives).
For context, when posting the track online, please be sure to include this following information:
More on this 492nd weekly Disquiet Junto project — Kintsugi Rework (The Assignment: Employ the Japanese technique of mending broken ceramics as a metaphor for remixing) — at: https://disquiet.com/0492/
More on the Disquiet Junto at: https://disquiet.com/junto/
Subscribe to project announcements here: https://tinyletter.com/disquiet-junto/
Project discussion takes place on llllllll.co: https://llllllll.co/t/disquiet-junto-project-0492-kintsugi-rework/
There’s also a Disquiet Junto Slack. Send your email address to twitter.com/disquiet for Slack inclusion.
The image associated with this project is by Kate, and used thanks to Flickr and a Creative Commons license allowing editing (cropped with text added) for non-commercial purposes: