The composers and improvisers Mikael Lindqvist and Lars Skoglund wish to collaborate with the Rotterdamse Improvisatie Poel on a project. The main concept for the project is expressed in the title "Clocks and Clouds"; the clocks are thought of as any kind of periodic sound, like beats, pulses, patterns, ostinatos. The clouds will be more "time-less" sounds with a certain type of thickness or density; clusters, chords, layers of activity. During the piece these initially separated sound ideas will be combined and transformed. Clocks become rhythms, riffs, ostinatos, basslines etc., and the clouds turn into chords, harmonies and melodies. Another type of transformation can be described as “Clocks turn into clouds, and clouds into clocks”. The clock-patterns increase in speed and become overlayered so that the points they are made of will merge together into clouds. The clouds will be “rhythmisized” and made shorter and repeated so that they form clock-like rhythmic patterns.
 

Within this framework both improvisation and written material will be used. The improvisers get a lot of freedom, but always within the framework, which is the two main concepts, and their meeting. Along with the invited R:IP-members we will include some musicians from the conservatory. Based on our experience with both institutions we have decided to assign R:IP-pers to play mostly free stuff (within given guidelines), and the students to take care of most of the written parts, but also to improvise a lot.
 

This project was performed in November 2002 and will be repeated in 2003.