Introductory Notes on Aural-Hypnotic Methods of Sabotage for Systems and Constructs is a series of six audio visual artworks by Pierce Warnecke, that were originally released on Contour Editions as a single video piece. The collection began as a study in the beginning of the pandemic, of sonic and visual materiality: speed, contrast, light, texture, reflection, reverberation, shadow, movement, and colour.

"As windows on the world became restricted to the tiny, distorted ones offered by social media during consecutive lockdowns, I spent more time online and was stunned by the alarming number of dishonest exchanges and downright false ideas circulating. So, I began to imagine the piece, in addition to an abstract audio-visual study, as a sense-oriented tool/weapon that could be used to de/reprogram fanatic, false, conspiratorial, and/or cult-like thought patterns, with the basic premise being that perhaps an experience can be jarring or unexpected enough to wake someone up from an outlandish thinking process that may be negatively impacting their life and the lives of those around them. I don't think I’m alone in having thought at some point ‘I wish they would just snap out of it".

Could there be a simple osmosis between a hypnotic state caused by abstract sound-image patterns and a person's deeply seeded social fears and angers?... Shouldn't a weaponized version of waves influencing the brain work as well as a mindful one? I don't believe so. But the idea did prove useful as a compositional guide to add more contrast, abruptness, and unexpected shifts between calm and chaos to this piece. And who knows, maybe I did add a secret sonic and visual pattern that will re-code your thoughts. Would you notice?" -Pierce Warnecke