Instagood

‘Instagood’ is a piece that looks at social media use through different characters and perspectives. Detachment from real life interactions is a prevalent theme in the piece, one that I felt strongly about during Corona pandemic, but also the importance of it as a continuing development in our society was struck me as something worth to address. Using cringe elements, my goal was – through the main character – to embody the absurdity of human connection without sharing physical space.

‘Instagood’ portraits timings and actions from an actual, screen-recorded social media session, climaxing on a narcissistic high of the main character diving into the world of good-for-nothing Instagram-models/-influencers. The ending is somewhat sobering, although open-ended and not offering any easy solutions.

‘Instagood’ was commissioned by November Music festival 2021 as a result of my “How Sauce Sounds” winning the composition prize at the 2020 TROMP Percussion festival. The wonderful Michela Amici and Elisa De Toffol premiered the work.

Writing for triple harp offered a challenge in expressivity that the theme of the piece required. The instrument is chromatic but comes with some restrictions due to the 3-layered string placement. Sound is soft and not as resonant as in the modern harp, nonetheless the unique and warm sound makes up for the lack of dynamic depth and virtuosity. Here you can find some recorded bits from the November Music performance.