Upon researching projects which utilize emerging media technology, I found this piece "Beneath and Beyond", by the scottish artist Stephen Hurrel. This is an ever changing live piece that uses the internet to constantly monitor one hundred seismic stations around the world, therefore making very effective use of communication technology. By doing this, the piece collects vibrations, which are converted into raw data and speeded up so that they are audible to the human ear. As the work is constantly scanning, it is new sounds that are heard all the time in real time. To enhance the piece there are visuals which represent what is being heard which show seismic graph lines and wave forms. The environment that the installation is shown in is important to. It is situated in a very dark space where only the visuals and the speakers can be seen. There are 6 red speakers aligned across the width of the visual display, so both the sound and visuals are given equal prominence. The artist of "Beneath And Beyond" intended to explore how computer software, developed for the internet could bring real life environmental "events" into the gallery. Hurrel states "I have created meeting points between nature, culture and technology. His inspiration of the piece is the west coast of scotland and he talks about how the deep lochs became the ideal site to house nuclear submarines."These symbols of efficient, total destruction were in direct contrast to the ancient landscape; shaped by the slow forces of the ice age and massive tectonic shifts." Added to this the artist was interested in the greatness in nature and wanted to explore how the tools of the 21st century could "be used to posit a more symbiotic relationship between nature and technology."
Overall, I think this is a very effective piece. The artist successfully uses the internet to bring real life examples of the environment to the installation. Also, the fact that it is in real time enhances this effect and everything that it plays is new, increasing the interest in it. I also think the performance environment is crucial to its success as it is just the visuals and the sound that you hear in a blackened room so this increases the relationship between the installation and the audience.
On Wednesday the 19th of May we had the performance technology day where people were able to view and interact with my installation "Subtle Chaos". Here are the notes that I made for the piece
Subtle Chaos
This piece attempts to portray the relationship between sound and colour. Harmonization between the two is achieved by the complimentary pattern that each one produces on the other. When using the piece, the user can simply watch as the colours and sounds gradually change with endless linking possibilities, conveying the nature of colour and sound. Alternatively, the user can scroll the mouse over the smart board and experience the dramatic effect this has on the piece. The piece is ambiguous in nature. Whether meaning can be derived is left to the individual.
On the whole the day was a big success. One aspect I noticed about it was that the piece was interesting enough for people to watch it/ interact with it for several minutes each. There were some people that spent maybe 5-10 minutes moving their hand across the screen. This was highly beneficial when you have a fair number of people in the room as even when someone was interacting with the piece, everyone else found it interesting enough just to watch hence providing the audience. I feel the range of possibilities on offer was the reason for this. For example, although the image morphing film and the sound file were both looped, you would have to wait for a considerable time before this was realized. The piece, even when no one was touching the screen, provided much interest. As the colours gradually changed on the film, the sound change was much more subtle if the mouse was just left at a single point and so no one touching the screen. This way, the user noticed a dramatic difference when the screen was touched, as the mouse was going between different colours quickly and so this greatly affected the sound. In my notes for the piece I stated that it was "ambiguous in nature". When different people spoke to me they expressed differing ideas about it. One person was speaking along the lines of the effectiveness of electronic music. Ann, the Drama lecturer spoke about how it would be good to use it for her special needs class. What was also an effective part of the installation was having the room more or less empty with the lights off. This created the ideal environment for the piece to be shown in and added to the effectiveness. The only drawback was that the audience could not read my notes that were to the side of the smart-board, but they may have read the other copy on the door. Perhaps more of an audience would have been better but I felt there was a reasonable number there and the room not being too crowded meant that everyone could see and experience the piece fully.
Whilst researching performance projects which utilize emerging media technology, I discovered this highly successful and imaginative piece. "Scrapple", by Golan Levin is an installation consisting of a table onto which everyday objects are placed and these are the basis for music creation. The intention is that the table acts as an "active score" by constantly scanning the surface of the table and responding in real time to the objects that are on it. This way, the table acts as music notation. The work consists of a windows pc, custom designed software, a 3 metre long table with a dry erase board, a digital video camera with combined projector. The part of the work that the user performs on is the table. The installation will respond to anything that is on the surface of the table allowing for a great deal of scope. For example, it will respond to the variety of objects that are already on it and or people can also write on it. The camera continuously monitors the table from above and the creator calls objects on the table "sound events" and the rhythm is created by scanning the table lengthwise and these "sound events" are sequenced in time. Pitch is created by objects placed across the width of the table and the frequencies produced cover eight octaves from low to high. Close detail to the effect of each object can be noted as darker objects will produce louder sounds and wider objects will cover a wider range of the frequency spectrum. This allows for greater musical expression as the piece copes well with dynamics and also will produce note clusters and dissonance. In addition, by scanning the table every few seconds a loop is created and the tempo of this can be adjusted between 1 and 1000 bpm. This work is an excellent example of augmented reality and this is achieved by the use of visuals that are projected onto the table. These visuals contribute in a number of ways. For example, there is a continuous moving glowing bar that represents scanning across the table and this is linked to the system so that at exactly the moment the bar passes over an object, the corresponding sound is produced. Also, there is a grid that marks time and pitch and a variety of grids can be chosen. For example, the user can choose one that will play triplets or pentatonic scales, once again highlighting the musical freedom of the piece. Once every piece has been detected it glows, enhancing the effect to the user. The glow on each piece also fades gradually, acting as a visual way of displaying the timing and tempo of the piece. These graphics help portray to the user, the effect of their actions on the piece. The current condition of the piece is displayed and through use of the grid, precision is possible. It is therefore possible to compose with accurate results or improvise. The technology used is impressive also. The software is self made, showing the importance that the creator placed on this piece doing what it was planned to do. The camera constantly monitors the table and when the image is passed, the creator states that "barel distortion", has to be removed. Also the perspective has to be corrected so that it is accurate. After this audio synthesis takes place which has to be simultaneously combined with the graphics and then in real time projected onto the table. Overall, "Scrapple" in my opinion is a very successful piece. It appeals both visually and in terms of the sounds produced. One of the key attractions is the attention paid to how musical it is. The creator has clearly made this a priority. Also, the sound combined with the graphics, completely engages the user. The graphics enhance their every action on the piece by responding in real time and giving feedback to the user. This is why it is an excellent example of augmented reality. http://www.flong.com/projects/scrapple/
Last wednesday we successfully managed to have the project up and running. It consists of 2 Max msp patches and a logic file. The logic file has a looped recording of the instrument I have chosen (Absolute Resonance), along with a number of adjustable settings. These settings are contained within an insert (Auto Filter) and are cutoff modulation, resonance, dry signal and rate. Each of these had to be routed in logic pro so that communication between it and max msp were possible. The first Max msp patch traces the colour of what is on the screen over the point where it is hovering. Based on this it generates numbers on 4 scales which are then output to logic and these adjust the settings on the logic insert mentioned above. The second Max msp patch contains the movie file and allows the mouse to appear over the movie when the screen is maximized. The colours in the movie change gradually and the sound from logic accurately goes with this. This is the case when the mouse is left at a single point on the screen. The user can change the mouse position if they wish resulting in more drastic changes in sound as the colour changes will be more dramatic doing this. In this way, the user can either just watch the installation and experience the sounds that come naturally or they can have more of an effect on it by using the mouse. The room that the installation is taking place in will be empty, besides the projector and the screen to maximize effect and probably the lights will be off or dimmed significantly.
For my Performance technology project I am making a max msp patch which creates sounds based on colour. To do this, I require several very high definition images which will probably be abstract but all related. These images will gradually merge as the patch plays. I have included some potential images within this post.
Steampunk, within the confines of music is a unique aesthetic that attempts to make music of sorts out of vintage styled items. These items typically use vintage antique hardware examples full of elegance and tasteful design. In this sense, Steampunk is appealing both visually and also takes a unique perspective in creating sound. An interesting example I found was of the lego sequencer by Yoshi Akai. In this, arranging the lego blocks at different points on the board creates a wide variety of sounds. The lego blocks are instantly familiar. Many people will remember playing with lego as a child. The lego blocks are also colour coded and you can form many different layouts on the board. They effectively represent "blocks of sequenced time" When watching this, the viewer can recognize, how the layout is affecting the sound. The user in the video starts of with a basic arrangement of the lego blocks and the viewer can recognize the new sounds as more lego blocks are added. This way the relationship between what you can see and what you can see is completely clear. This seems to be crucial as with steampunk it has to appeal visually.
I have found a second example of the steampunk genre. This example is by the same artist and is named "Wireless Catcher". It produces fairly simple sounds and works by scanning the radio waves around the area and sounds are generated by these radio waves. Different sounds can therefore be produced by pointing the device to different angles. What is most significant about this creation is that wireless interference is normally undesirable. However this device completely relies on it which is unique. It is also been styled very effectively in a victorian style. This is a very crucial part of this device and so also makes it successful under the category Steampunk in which it has been placed. I do think however it would be better still if the sounds that it produced were more musical. Overall Steampunk takes an interesting and unique view which will appeal to some people more than others.
Upon research I found a sound installation which I found particularly interesting. It is called "infanite mass" by Gwen Stevenson and is a work which explores the nature of human experience. The creator states that people live in both a physical and metaphysical world and these are experienced very differently. It contains 7 suspended spheres which are placed at different heights in the room and each have speakers hidden in them, which allows for each one to be a separate sound source. All of the spheres are connected by audio cables and are coated in polystyrene which resembles stone and the participant has space to walk between these spheres and experience the movement of sound between them. In the creation of sound, the dopplar effect is used which effectively makes the movement of sound more apparant as the frequency of the sound wave to the participant increases and decreases depending on their position in the room. Also panning is used which allows for exact focusing of sound in the space. There are five sources of sound used. One is computer generated sound from the low to the high end of the frequency spectrum and the other four are white noise. White noise covers all of the frequency spectrum which suggests the creator could have been relating to many aspects of the human experience. The title of the work is "Infanite mass" and the creator is highly successful in conveying this. The Spheres convey the physical domain that humans live in as these can be seen and touched. The sounds that move between the spheres represent the metaphysical domain and so these are not tangible and therefore very different. These two aspects suggest infanite. Also, the space in which the work is set in works well. It is very minimal and so adds to the effect of experiencing just the spheres and the sound moving between them. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tW-aOlb2Xjw
