Change Over Time: Responsibility and Power in the Midst of Catastrophe

After outlining a background of catastrophe theory and its links to musical composition, the author presents a manifestation of those links in the form of a “catastrophe machine”—an interactive musical system in which abrupt changes in computer-generated sound processing are dependent upon performers’ sensitive control of acoustic instruments. She then discusses notions of power and responsibility as they stem from a specific realization of this system, Berubah.