![[OLD FALL 2017] 15-104 • Introduction to Computing for Creative Practice](wp-content/uploads/2020/08/stop-banner.png)
‘A Night of Spiritual Jazz’ Installation – The Mill X Red Bull Music Academy
Music is a magnificent part of all of our lives. Wherever you go, you can hear music. But what if you could see the music, instead of listening? The Mill created an experimental installation that combined a live liquid paint show with generative art software, called Cosmograph and Bloom, led by multiple jazz band’s audio. As jazz bands played, a live painter was behind the scenes creating a color palette for the software by using different kinds of liquid media. The software would then capture this visual and generate it into visuals alongside the audio inputs from the jazz bands.
I especially admired this installation because of how it combines different types of art with technical software to produce a more unique and possibly beautiful visual. Both music and fine art can be intertwined thanks to the technical software. It also made me think about how possibly deaf people who have never heard music or any kind of sound can be given the chance to experience the beauty of music through visuals. Just like the creator, Rama Allen, states, the visuals represent the “puffy eruptions of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland”, which he claims was part of his inspiration.
