my scattered response to a recent inquiry

1.) "What, in your studied opinion, is the philosophy behind sonosophy?"

-To answer this I can try to quote Alex (from memory) :
"Sonosophy is to sound what Philosophy is to ideas..."
So, I guess there is no philosophy behind Sonosophy, as Sonosophy is a different project/discipline altogether. Sonosophy investigates sound as a primary way of understanding our emotions, our surroundings, our history, our selves, and so on. Sonosophy investigates that which Philosophy investigates, but in a different, more physical manner. The explanation of Sonosophy is rather elusive, it can't be explained nearly as much as it can be felt or experienced. Sonosophy is about experiencing sound in and through our bodies (voices, ears, chest, bones, flesh) in various localities, those localities being in nature or in man-made environments. Sound and word is regarded as the primary/essential creative action/medium/process to engage in. Soundwaves, vibrations, oscillations, tones are what hold things in our world together, on a very basic and fundamental level. This is the best I can do right now in this explanation. This project is a total collaboration, so please get an answer from Torben and/or Alex for more description and clarity...and feel free to ask me a more detailed question.

2.) "Why did you start up this project?"

We originally started up this project because Torben and I perceived a general lack of outside documentation of Alex's work. After being exposed to many of Alex's performances, classes (taught at UVSC), and written poetry/visual works, we had both developed a deep respect and love for Alex's creative work. Alex is a very influential teacher/mentor to us, and as we work with him we continue to develope a close friendship. In our view, such a unique, vital, and active artist calls for more attention and documentation. At first, our main goal was to begin documenting Alex's poetry, performance, and visual art. As we began to do that, the documentation project basically morphed into various projects of various sizes, this documentary film being the major project. The documentary film idea incited a lot of creative energy within us, and it simultaneously received a lot of immediate support, and so we are going through to the end with it. Also, in working with Alex and getting accustomed to Alex's working processes and methodologies, several ideas for projects continue to be planted, some of which will be connected and will work their way into our documentary film, others will be separate and may even go beyond the film itself. Other projects include a website: (which will be the main site for the documentary film), but will also continue to meticulously document and archive Alex's written and visual works. Other ideas that have been planted include future collaborations on performances that include filming as an element within the performance, as well as documentation of performance. Alex is very organized and works very diligently on a high volume of diverse things. We hope to help Alex develop some of those things to their potential and bring them out into the sun. Working with Alex is an extremely fluid and fertile experience where the process of creation is paramount. The primary purpose is to engage in creative activity/process; curious investigation into the mysterious, the unknown, and to bring from those realms manifestations (finished products/artworks) that somehow illustrate the experiences. I hope that makes sense, I'm not sure I understand the whole project. If it is just the film you are thinking about, then it is generally about documenting the life, current and existing works, and creative processes that Alex is engaged in. Again, please also talk to Torben and Alex...and feel free to ask more detailed questions.