Noise to Signal

Selected as one of six composers — from sixty works submitted — for Pekan Komponis Indonesia 2016, an experimental electronic music programme organised by Dewan Kesenian Jakarta at Teater Kecil, Taman Ismail Marzuki, 3–5 October 2016.

The following day, Hartono presented the thinking behind the work at "Lintas Media: <Ruang Suara> & <Objek Bunyi>," a public forum at Galeri Cipta 3, TIM, on 6 October 2016. In his own words, the piece is "inspired by the Gamelan phenomenon" — but inverted. Where gamelan transforms tuned metal into structured harmony, Noise to Signal starts from noise and works outward: "this work has no beautiful sound, everything is just noise." He chose an electronic medium, he explained, because becoming a gamelan virtuoso "until becoming a Javanese person" wasn't a route open to him — electronics let him carry gamelan's underlying idea forward without its instrument.