A collaboration between Florian Hecker and Marcin Pietruszewski. The project, initiated in 2016 in response to a request by the Zurich-based graphic design studio NORM, translates graphic design procedures and algorithmic processes into sound synthesis and composition through experimental auditory display - hence normification, rather than sonification. It employs custom synthesis and signal processing techniques, including iterative cycles of re-synthesis, wavelet-based transformations, and particle-scale recomposition, all while maintaining strict procedural ties to the algorithmic logic underlying NORM's layout system.
As an algorithmic manifestation of this system, a text-column structuring program - which calculates integer divisors within two-dimensional fields - produces structured patterns of gaps and non-gaps that serve as the generative point of departure for sound synthesis. These divisor-based sequences are interpreted across multiple temporal scales: macro-level structural divisions, meso-level rhythmic patterns, and micro-level spectral movements.
NORMIFICATION establishes a recursive compositional ecology, where sound becomes a site of procedural inscription rather than representational output. It proposes a synthesis grounded in structural consequence and suggests listening as a mode of procedural inquiry.
The work comprises 115 tracks mastered by Rashad Becker. NORMIFICATION is presented via double CD, packaged in a double jewel case and accompanied by 2 x 16-page booklets. Product, packaging and sleeve design by Dimitri Bruni, NORM, Zurich.
