The following interview was conducted via an email questionnaire in mid-2013 by Ryan Ross Smith.
RRS: What was the first piece you created using animated notation?
AJ: NYC_001 was my first try to make (the) visual aspect moving. The main aim of this project was to involve musician(s) in the process of creativity. I did not want to leave performers out of it; rather to make them part of what I was creating. The idea that all of us were creating and being part of (the) creative process was appealing to me. This piece was performed in various public places in Lithuania and during each performance the score was visible to performers, creators and audience.
RRS: What led you to start using animated notation? [This could be aesthetic/artistic concerns, technological experimentation, a bet and/or dare, etc.]
AJ: I graduated from music academy where my major was academic composition. Before that I studied the art of performing, specializing in piano. But I always felt stressed out while playing Chopin mainly because to play well meant that one has to have specific skills. And my idea of music was that everyone should be able to perform and create music without feeling uncomfortable. I have noticed similar issues in the piano music written by Stockhauzen. In order to fully understand at least one bar a musician is required to have specific technological experience that would allow not only to perform but also to listen to his music. That is why 'moving graphic notation' enables listeners to hear the chaos; and it can be performed by anyone who wishes.
RRS: Where there particular compositions/notational approaches/technologies/video games/etc. that exerted any influence over your [early and/or present] work?
AJ: I think the biggest influence was Gregorian chants, which were written down on papyrus paper and the visualization of music (neume) looks just like modern graphic design. Some of John Cage's scores that are related to graphics and coincidence theories and Karlheinz Stockhauzen's electronic music made me think what could be next.
RRS: How would you describe your current work, and where do you see it going?
AJ: All forms of art (theatre, architecture, visual arts and especially music) and technology develop rapidly. The world has become very intense and therefore people do not want to stay in the same state of mind for a long time, even if it is meaningful and important. I think that same as in Mozart's music, dominant elements are simplicity and simple complexity, which both allow audience(s) to use the achievements of music, we can find in similar attitudes in "animated graphic." We have started to form 'a modern simple complexity.'
To be able to see sounds and hear visual aspects - that is simply the perspective of interdisciplinary. For me, as an artist, it is vitally important to use these changes.
About"Reknown Lithuanian artist, composer and performer Antanas Jasenka explores many different areas of music from acoustic music, theatre and movie music, to advance experimental, conceptual art, electronic music. "[1]
1. POINT.EXE, archive.org, accessed November 30, 2013, https://archive.org/details/enrmp069_antanas_jasenka_-_point_exe.