mjanco – Section B – Looking Outwards-11

http://www.myriambleau.com/soft_revolvers.html

This week I looked at Myriam Bleau’s project Soft Revolvers from 2014. This is a project in which Bleau performs with spinning “tops” made of acrylic that generate electronic music based on the way in which they move. Bleau is the musician, controlling the music that is generated by spinning the glowing tops. I really admire that this piece is just as visually interesting as it is aurally interesting. The sounds vary just as the glow of the spinning tops change and flicker as Bleau interacts with them. This creates an interesting experience because the visuals can very much influence the way in which a viewer experiences the music. The sounds are generated through gyroscopes and accelerometers that are hooked up to each top, which wirelessly send movement data to a computer to be interpreted, and “[inform] musical algorithms designed in Pure Data.” Bleau is interested in exploring the ways she can blur the lines between musical performance, installation, interface, and performance. She is “interested in finding original strategies for musical performance by creating cohesive systems that integrate sound, light and movement.” This very clearly manifests in her piece as the beautiful halo light of the tops, their movements, and their generative sounds all interact to create a beautiful musical performance.