Category: Section D

ghou-lookingoutwards-04

SOUNDLEAK

Keiko Uenishi is known for being a sound art-i-vist, as she described herself on her website bio. Her work includes reconstructing and experimenting with materials and one’s relationship with them in sociological and psychological environments. Uenishi’s present works include BroadwayDreams, Aboard: Fillip2, LandFilles, and many others.

Her installation LandFilles_UrbanDump is a project that took place at the Emily Harvey Foundation located in New York City in 2013. This piece was very inspiring because it takes a look at our urban environments using recycled material. This project was divided into several steps:

  1. Collection and Construction: recycling empty, clear, plastic bottles and constructing a structure from recycled materials
  2. Live processes/Performance: the structure is built with help from visitors and interacts with the pieces to produce audio feedback derived from the hollow shapes of the bottles.
  3. Demolition/Giveaway: the structure is torn down and given away to visitors or other people.

daphnel- Looking Outwards 04

The Mesa Musical Shadows is an interactive music playing device that allows people to create music through the use of their shadows. This device was created by Montreal’s Daily Tous Les Jours studio and is located in the north plaza at Mesa Arts Center in Arizona. This singing pavement has four different tracks that changes depending on the time of day–morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Additionally, 47 light sensors are controlled through 6 control nodes and speakers are carefully placed in areas where water could not reach them.

I admire the fact that the workers in the studio wanted to implement the voice of the community members and students who live in Arizona. Through surveys and feedback from those people, the studio bought prototypes to test out what products could most accurately reflect what the public wants. They not only focused on the aspect of people playing around with their shadows to generate music, they also tried to take into consideration the people sitting on the sides, who could also feel more relaxed and happy watching others formulate a joyful tune on the musical cement.

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Howler Monkey by Meier & Erdmann is a music video created by Spanish visual artist, Victor Doval. He used the frequencies of the sounds in the music to define a landscape’s visual parameters algorithmically. This literally visualized the idea that music is a journey through a changing landscape that is interpreted through one’s ears.

Doval used Processing and Blender to create these visuals that are in sync with the music. This project was interesting to me because of the initial idea that music is a journey. I thought that this music video was a good example of what that could mean and demonstrating how that could be visualized. However, I do feel that it may interfere with other people’s interpretations.

Victor Doval; Howler Monkey

Victor Doval; Howler Monkey

Jihee Kim (Section D)– LookingOutwards-04

Superposition is a computational sound project that was directed by Japanese artist Ryoji Ikeda. Since its creation in 2012, Ikeda has premiered this project through four different mediums: installations, performance, concert, and dvd. Superposition was premiered at the MET in New York in 2012 and attracted a lot of attention from people for its unique concept.

The project is based on sine waves and impulses and is inspired by quantum mechanics. Although the superposition theorem in quantum physics is quite difficult to fathom completely, it could be said that it is about randomness. Components of Superposition are diverse and placed precisely, but Ikeda incorporates a bit of randomness through impulses.

elements of the performance

Superposition resembles nature in that sense. Performers, video clips, images, real time contents and more visual and sound elements are constantly in effect and then muted throughout the piece. Just like in the scientific world where particles in a superposition state can never be identified in one location, these sound waves are floating in multiple locations in different states. It is also parallel to how nature is everywhere. Even people are small parts of such a vast nature and they coexist at the same time, but are scattered all around the world.

Ikeda, as a visual and sound artist successfully abstracts the superposition theorem in a visually enticing way, using bursts of sounds and images. It is interesting how the artist attempted to describe a natural phenomenon through precise calculations and execute that in sounds. The concept of tracking back and substantiating nature through pure sine waves and impulses created by shortening sine waves is interesting.

More information can be found on the project’s webpage and the interview with Ryoji Ikeda.

superposition website

Artist Interview: Ryoji Ikeda, creator of superposition

Jihee Kim_SectionD_Project-04 (String Art)

jiheek1_project4

//Jihee Kim
//15-104 MWF 9:30
//jiheek1@andrew.cmu.edu
//project4 string art
//section D

var backgroundRed; // Red value of background
var backgroundGreen = 4; // Green value of background
var backgroundBlue = 51; // Blue value of backgound
var lineR = 187; // Red value of lines
var lineG; // Green value of lines
var lineB = 239; // Blue value of lines

function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 300);
}


function draw() {
    // background changes from navy blue to dark purple as mouse moves in x direction
    background(backgroundRed, backgroundGreen, backgroundBlue);
    backgroundRed = map(mouseY, 0, height, 5, 37); // only R value changes

    //color of lines change as mouse moves in X direction
    lineG = map(mouseX, 0, width, 208, 187); // only G value changes

    // draw layers of folds that reveal a diamond at the end
    // basic logic: thickest strokeweight = closest to front
    // basic logic: i is greatest in the very back to draw less attention
    var x = 0; // position of x coordinate
    var y = 0; // position of y coordinate

    // form curves that are closest and create the almond shape
    for (var i = 0; i <= 400; i += 18) { //set the start, limit, spacing
        stroke(lineR, lineG, lineB);
        strokeWeight(1.6); // thickest lineweight for the element in very front
        line(x + i, height, width, height - i); // bottom right corner

        strokeWeight(1.2); // second thickest lineweight
        line(x + i, y, x, height - i); // top left corner

        strokeWeight(0.8); // third thickest lineweight = 3rd closest to front
        line(width/2 + i, 0, width, i); // top right quadrant
        line(width/2 - i, height, x, height - i); // bottom left quadrant

        strokeWeight(0.4); // fourth thickness = exists in the back
        line(x + i, y, width, i); // top right corner
        line(width - i, height, x, height - i); // bottom left corner
    }

    // draw the diamond
    for (var i = 0; i <= 400; i += 25) {
        strokeWeight(0.25); // second to furthest element
        // top left quadrant
        line(width/2 - i, height/2, width/2, i);
        // bottom left quadrant
        line(width/2 - i, height/2, width/2, height - i);
        // top right quadrant
        line(width/2 + i, height/2, width/2, i);
        // bottom right quadrant
        line(width/2 + i, height/2, width/2, height - i);
    }

   // overlay another diamond that moves
   //spacing between loops varies with mouseY
   spacing = map(mouseY, 0, height, 0, 2);
   for (var i = 0; i <= 400; i += 25) {
       strokeWeight(0.15); // furthest element
       // top left quadrant
       line(width/2 - i, height/2 * spacing, width/2, i * spacing);
       // bottom left quadrant
       line(width/2 - i, height/2 * spacing, width/2, height - i * spacing);
        // top right quadrant
       line(width/2 + i, height/2 * spacing, width/2, i * spacing);
       // bottom right quadrant
       line(width/2 + i, height/2 * spacing, width/2, height - i * spacing);
  }
}

For this project, I have created a drawing with multiple layers of folds and a diamond-like element by forming curves with lines.
My inspiration for the project came from the pattern below.

inspiration

As the pattern above does, I wanted my project to show depth and I achieved that goal through varying the distance between loops and the stroke weight, creating a hierarchy that conveys a sense of depth. I wanted the viewer to clearly sense what is in front and what is in the back.
I also made the drawing more dynamic by controlling some motion of elements and color with the position of the mouse.

LookingOutwards-04-Chickoff

This is Ambient Synthesis, a sculpture which emits sounds of varying frequencies according to its light stimuli. It was created by Amanda Ghassaei in 2012 who graduated from Pomona College with a BA in Physics and Minor in Chemistry.

All of the sculpture’s data is interpreted by a MaxMSP application which uses the Max visual programming language to connect an object to virtual patch cords to create sound. What I find most interesting about this project is that it gives the environment and light around the sculpture a voice. This is contrary of videos of landscapes that are coupled with music that may not reflect the actual state of the animals and nature being filmed.

I’m very curious about what other factors of an environment, besides light, could be used to create sound. It would be interesting to see a sculpture respond to natural disasters, temperature, or the amount of movement around it…what if a specific sound were emitted if a creature were within a certain range of the sculpture? The sculpture would then be notifying you of something that maybe you can’t detect with your eyes, unlike light. It would then serve as a guardian, informing you of how large the animal is that’s approaching, and perhaps let you know whether it is a threat.

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Sonic Pendulum is a soundscape created by Yuri Suzuki Design Studio and QOSMO in 2017. The artificial intelligence part of Sound Pendulum utilizes the atmosphere around it to create sounds of harmony. These sounds are created using speakers and pendulums. The pendulums allow the doppler effect to help dictate the music. Every sound it creates is a response to what is around it, so the harmonies never repeat and continuously alter. I admire this project because of its interactive element and its mellifluous element. The environment can easily soothe a stressed person (I wish I could benefit from its atmosphere at this moment). A deep learning algorithm was used in this project that was trained with compositions and could be changed given the people and noises around it. The project embodies the artist’s ideas of order coming from chaos.

link

NatalieKS-LookingOutwards-04

Created by Amanda Ghassaei, the Sugarcube is a portable MIDI controller with the capability to connect with up to 16 apps. It implements both buttons and “shake and tilt” features, allowing the user to manipulate sounds by tilting the Sugarcube one way or another. The creator used code from Arduino so that the device does all of its app processing internally, rather than with another computer. The device is also able to store sounds to correspond with different buttons. The creator, who is a grad student working at MIT Media Labs, used their knowledge of interactivity and media to create a device that is both user-friendly and fun.

I admire the simple and clear aesthetic of the Sugarcube, because it is easy to use without sacrificing beauty. The back-lit buttons create a really beautiful visual while also producing sounds and patterns, so you can visually see the music you’re making. It looks so simple, yet all of the code that went into it is fairly complicated and long.

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A promotional video for On Your Wavelength & Merge Festival 2015

Created by Marcus Lyall, Robert Thomas, and Alex Anpilogov, On Your Wavelength is an interactive installation that generates music and a laser-show as it analyzes the user’s brainwaves in real-time.

In the installation, the user is equipped with EEG brain scanner headseat, which is then analyzed turned into media using Processing and Pure Data for audio generation. The analysis creates a profile of the user and focuses on three possible emotions – joy, detachment, and tension – along with several possible instruments and pitches in order to generate musical compositions specific to the current user. While the generation was up to the program’s analysis, the color choices and compositions, as well as the distinctive emotions that they chose to go by show the distinct mark of the artists who worked on it.


Behind the scenes of On Your Wavelength

Large-scale, immersive experiences like this one have always been fascinating to me, and in this case it’s not just technology taking artistic control, but rather a symbiotic relationship between user and program that’s not only awe-inspiring to look at, but especially to be in the user’s place and see how the program reacts.

On Your Wavelength was first shown during Merge Festival 2015 in London and later in a modified format in Winter Lights 2017 in London.

Additional performances, such as this one, can be viewed on Youtube.


“Lime,” an On Your Wavelength performance

cduong-project 04-string art

cduong-project-04

//Name: Colleen Duong
//Section: D
//Andrew ID: cduong@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-04: String Art

function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 300);
}

function draw() {
  background(244, 174, 163);

  //Variables
  var x; //x-coordinate
  var y = 100;

//I wanted the lines to be close together so I made the range pretty small


//The Head of a Flamingo
  for(var x = 0; x < 20; x+=2){ //Range: 0 to 20
    stroke(255);

    curve(100, 200, 200, 100, 200, x+20, 73, 61);   //Same y2, y3,and x3 values to make sure that the emerging lines connect at the same point to make a coherent bird head shape
    curve(200, 400, 100, 100, 200, x+20, 73, 10);
  }


//Flamingo Wing1
  for(var x = 0; x < 60; x+=2){ //Range: 0 to 60
    noFill();
    stroke(255);

    curve(0, 0, 200, 100, 400, x+20, 73, 61); //Same x2, y2, and y3 as the head of the flamingo to make sure that the wings connected in the same place as the neck
  }

//Flamingo Wing2
  for(var x = 0; x < 30; x+=2){ //Range: 0 to 30 (I wanted this wing to be shorter than the one that's closer)
    noFill();
    stroke(255);

    curve(200, 0, 200, 100, 350, x+20, 73, 61); //Same x2, y2, and y3 as the head of the flamingo to make sure that the wings connected in the same place as the neck
  }

//Flamingo Body
  for(var x = 0; x < 100; x+=2){ //Range: 0 to 100 (Bigger range because the body is bigger)
    noFill();
    stroke(255);

    curve(400, 0, 200, 100, 300, x+120, 400, 0); //Same x2 and y2 as the head of the flamingo to make sure that the wings connected in the same place as the neck
    curve(400, 0, 500, 180, 300, x+120, 200, 400);
}

//BowTie
  for(var x = 0; x < 10; x+=2){ //Range: 0 to 10
    noFill();
    stroke(0);

    line(199, 100, x+180, x+y);
    line(199, 100, x+215, x+y);
  }

//Orange Water
      for(var x = 0; x < 400; x+=4){ //Range: 0 to 400 (I wanted the river to be gigantic and I made the value in between each x to be larger to spread out the lines more so they wouldn't merge into a solid shape)
        noFill();
        stroke(243, 204, 143);

        curve(400, 400, 20, 200, 390, x+300, 400, 400);
      }

//Blue Water
  for(var x = 0; x < 400; x+=6){ //Range 0 to 400 (To make the water look somewhat multi colored I put blue on top and put a different x+= value so it wouldn't completely overlap)
    noFill();
    stroke(183, 221, 239);

    curve(400, 400, 20, 200, 390, x+300, 400, 400);
  }


}

I wasn’t really sure what I wanted to draw at first so I started to play around with the for loop and curves until I made a really interesting shape, which is the beak/head/neck of the swan that I drew and from there I just continued to draw a swan.  

It was really fun to play around with the curves to try and make an abstract drawing. Hopefully you see what I was trying to draw, which is a swan (who is wearing a bowtie) flying over a river.