Société Réaliste, in cooperation with computer engineer Frédéric Mauclère, has developed a software calculating average musical notations from MIDI files. The artists used this new software to calculate the average national anthem of the 193 member states of the United Nations. It is known that although the UN is an organization born from the union of nations according to its name, does not have an anthem, a song which is going beyond the nation states self-image and self-definition. But if we think about it, the pursuit of universality can’t really be sung as long as the individual states formulate their separation, dissimilarity from the other states and nations in their anthems. So the writing of any universal anthem containing national aspirations and brought to common ground is doomed to be unsuccessful. The software, of course, carries out the operation by decomposing track by track all these anthems. It means that the very first note is the average of all the 193 first notes, the second note is the average of all the 193 second notes, etc. until the last note of the longest anthem. The universal anthem containing every anthem is born as such, but being rendered only out of machinic algorithms, it remains unplayable by traditional instruments and living people.

At the Living memoral, with the contribution of the THReNSeMBle orchestra (conductor and art director Balázs Horváth) and composer Cora Miron, the artists will attempt the inevitable human interpretation: they will try to play the composition generated orginally for 12 instruments.

Curator: Róna Kopeczky

Musicians: THReNSeMBle (http://thrensemble.com/)

Artistic director, conductor: Balázs Horváth

Moderator: Horváth Balázs Byron

Venue: Eleven Emlékmű (1054 Budapest, Szabadság tér)

Special thanks to Kati Kim

Supported by: the French Instiute, Budapest