Cardioid // is a meditation on the life and archived work of Malachi Ritscher by Jennifer Gutowski and Fred Lonberg-Holm. Taking an oblique approach to his collection of concert documents, the work purposely avoids the diverse collection of performances and personalities Ritscher recorded. Instead, it explores the periphery of the intentionally documented events; just as Ritscher himself was not the music but the observer, Cardioid // is not the music but the last notes, silences, applause, and markers that accompany the music and, in a sense, contain and capture it.

An array of ceramic simulacra of Ritschers's favorite microphone—AKG C414s "customized" with his initials in place of the usual AKG logo—are suspended in and define the space by outlining the polar pattern of that microphone.

The sounds, drawn randomly from files taken from the aforementioned sources and organized according to numeric data of significance to Ritscher—notably pi and the date of his death—change and cycle continuously in a constantly evolving realization.

Curated by Lou Mallozzi.

Thanks to Alex Inglizian for MAX programming and Tyler Bergfield for his assistance in casting the porcelain microphones.

 Cardioid // is the result of a Malachi Ritscher Legacy Commission by the Creative Audio Archive at Experimental Sound Studio. The Legacy Commissions aim to provide the public with increased access and exposure to the materials in the Malachi Ritscher Collection through the creation of new works based on research and exploration of those materials.