Jenni Lee — Project 04 — String Art

Jenni Lee — Project 04 — Dynamic Drawing

/* Jenni Lee
Section E
jennife5@andrew.cmu.edu
Project-04
*/

function setup() {
  createCanvas(800, 600);
  background(175);
  noLoop ();
}

function draw() {
  var i;
  for (i = 0; i < width; i += 10) {

// line connecting from top boundary line, starting from 0 and increment by 10 pixels, 
// to right boundary line, from top to bottom, increment by evenly divided height
    stroke (219, 79, 149);
    line (i, 0, width, lerp (0, height, i/width)); // lerp is to evenly divide the height with corresponding increment on width
    
    stroke (135, 96, 116);
    line (width - i, 0, 0, lerp (0, height, i/width));

    stroke (239, 218, 229);
    line (i, height, width, height - lerp (0, height, i/width));

    stroke (155, 59, 107);
    line (width - i, height, 0, height - lerp (0, height, i/width));

// line connecting from top boundary line, starting from 0 and increment by 10 pixels, 
// to right boundary line, from top to middle of height, increment by evenly divided height/2
    stroke (135, 96, 116);
    line (i, 0, width, lerp (0, height/2, i/width));
      
    stroke (219, 79, 149);
    line (width - i, 0, 0, lerp (0, height/2, i/width));
 
    stroke (155, 59, 107);
    line (i, height, width, height - lerp (0, height/2, i/width));

    stroke (239, 218, 229);
    line (width - i, height, 0, height - lerp (0, height/2, i/width));
    
// line connecting from top boundary line, starting from 0 and increment by 10 pixels, 
// to right boundary line, from top to 1/4 of height, increment by evenly divided height/4
    stroke (239, 218, 229);
    line (i, 0, width, lerp (0, height/4, i/width));
   
    stroke (219, 79, 149);
    line (width - i, 0, 0, lerp (0, height/4, i/width));
 
    stroke (135, 96, 116);
    line (i, height, width, height - lerp (0, height/4, i/width));

    stroke (155, 59, 107);
    line (width - i, height, 0, height - lerp (0, height/4, i/width));    
  }
}

Pink is my favorite color, so for this project, I wanted to play around with various shades of pink. Upon reflection of this piece, it’s almost a bit reminiscent of a rose of some sort of red/pink-ish flower. It took me a couple sketches for me to fully map out how I wanted to set everything up, as it was initially difficult for me to conceptualize everything, but ultimately, it was an enjoyable project.

Dani Delgado – Looking Outwards 04

The sound related project I chose to research is Atlås: an “anti-game environment” that generates music by completing self-generated tasks. The “anti-game” means that the app will solve these tasks by itself, without any need for human input.

This app was created by Agoston Nagy, who wanted to question human cognition and “more broadly corporate driven automatisms and advanced listening practices” which have been ingrained in most people. Nagy created the app using primarily JavaScript (and p5js) and Pure Data to synthesize the sounds together. Learning that most of this digital environment was created using JavaScript – the same language which we are learning – was encouraging and exciting for me because it means that if I keep pushing myself, maybe I could create something as beautiful, seamless, and imaginative as Atlås.

A screenshot of the Atlas interface. Sound is created as the simple shapes appear in the background.

Above: A video showing a demo of the Altas app: you can see how the music is created and the included animations which build the landscape.

Rachel Lee- Project 04- String Art- Section E

sketch

/* Rachel Lee
Section E
rwlee@andrew.cmu.edu
Project- 04: String Art 
*/

// global variables 
var increment = 10; // spacing between different line segments

function setup() {
    createCanvas(400, 300);
    background(250, 155, 130);
}

function draw() {
	strokeWeight(random (0.3, 1)); //randomizes stroke weights within 
	//curve and 'grid' elements (vertical and horizontal inner mesh layer)

// top right swoop
    for (var a = 0; a < width; a += increment) {
        stroke(240, 200, 90);
        strokeWeight;
        line(a, 0, width, a);
	}

// bottom left swoop
    for (var b = 0; b < height; b += increment) {
   	    stroke(160, 190, 225);
   	    strokeWeight;
   	    line(b, height, 0, b); 
   }

// inner mesh layer top right 
    for (var c = 50; c < width; c += increment) { //curve starts at 50 pixels across screen
    	stroke(150, 200, 200);
    	strokeWeight;
    	line(c, 0, 300, c); //curve begins to taper at 300 pixels (width) 
    } 

// inner mesh layer bottom left
    for (var d = 50; d < height; d += increment) { // starts 50 pixels down left side of screen
        stroke(150, 215, 120);
        strokeWeight;
        line(0, d, d, height); 
    } 

// vertical inner mesh layer
    for (var d = 80; d < height; d += increment) { 
        stroke(215, 215, 120);
        strokeWeight;
        line(d, 0, d, height); // lines begin at 80 pixels from left side of screen
    } 

// horizontal inner mesh layer
    for (var e = 0; e < width; e += increment) {
    	stroke(210, 205, 80);
    	strokeWeight;
    	line(0, e, width, e);
    }

}

For my String Art project, I was inspired by one of my favourite artists, Naum Gabo. I initially based my piece on his sculpture Linear Construction No. 1, but decided to add my own flair with color, and vary the types of shapes that were layered in the inner ‘mesh’ panels. While challenging, this project was really fun to experiment with– I especially liked seeing how randomising the stroke weight affected the dynamics of the piece.

Alessandra Fleck – Looking Outwards 04 : Sound Art

One sound and computation project I found that I thought was interesting is the Reflector Distortion project by Carsten Nicolai. What I find most interesting about this project is the way in which the computational aspect is not transcribed visually on a screen but rather through the subtle moves in the water dish.

The premises of this project stem from inputting sound into an algorithm that then associates that sound with a pattern and then outputs that sound in the source of a low frequency sound that replicates that pattern in the water basin.

(on the image above, the art piece is set in a white box room with clean, neon white lights as the only source of light. There was much detail put into the room alone to ensure that the cleanliness of the exhibit and sound distortions is exhibited well)

Rather than exhibiting the sound in the form of music, this project focuses on the frequency of sound as a basis of art. Enable to clearly visualize these changes in frequencies, the art piece uses a low black basin of water with a line of white neon lights mounted on the ceiling above the basin to reflect the lines in the basin and male the sound changes visible.

Exhibiting sound in the form of art is a very interesting track for visualizing what is not seen on the computer. The algorithms that were used to create this probably dealt along the lines of transcribing direct frequencies to points of a curve, then using an algorithm similar to what is used in Trapcode soundkeys to take those curves and based on the level of frequency, then exhibit that curve at a higher or lower visual mode.

(the image above shows a detail of the sound basin with the neon white light reflecting off the surface of the water in the dish)

Carsten Nicolai – reflektor distortion from studio carsten nicolai on Vimeo.

Sources:

http://carstennicolai.de/?c=works&w=reflektor_distortion

12 Sound Artists Changing Your Perception of Art

Sean McGadden – Looking Outward 04

A Narrative on Creation

“MULTIVERSE – The eternal birth and death of infinite parallel universes”

This project was a site specific instillation in Borgo delle Colonne 28, Italy. In order to project a fantastical yet grounded opinion on the creation of the universe, the production team listed below used sound, algorithmic projections and reflection of materials to create the essence of infinite space and time.

Bonanni Del Rio Catalog (Production), Mattia Carretti, Luca Camellini (Art Direction, Executive Production), Mattia Carretti, Luca Camellini, Samuel Pietri, Riccardo Bazzoni (Concept), Luca Camellini, Samuel Pietri (Software Artists), Riccardo Bazzoni (Sound Design), Matteo Mestucci (Hardware Engineering), Fiera Srl (Setting), Matteo Torsani (Video Report) and Emmanuele Coltellacci (Photo Report).

These artist programmed both sound and visuals with the intent on exploring rational explosion and implosion of particles of various scales and speeds to imply the creation or destruction of “universes”. The production teamsprinciples behind this project were to explain how the universe can be constantly compounded within itself. The existence of black holes are referred to as moments of inception of new child universes. A vast complex system of layered parallel universes is tantalizing and inspiring to me. This instillation transmits a magnitude of reality that is hardly perceivable into a medium that gives a portal-like insight into the true scale of the universe. The way it also reflects off the ceiling and floor shows the infinite nature of the creation outside and within our own observable capabilities.

The images were generated with a program called openFrameworks and it serves as the “creator” of these universes. Just as creation remains within its own bounds, the generative sounds and shapes are within a similar family. However just as true creation is random there are random elements making slight changes in multiple factors. The sounds contribute to an overall essence of being and scale. The inception of possible universes is a magnificent and crazy thing to imagine due to the sheer size and time it might take.

Sean McGadden

Austin Treu – Looking Outwards-04

Multiverse by fuse* is a fascinating project including both generative graphics and sound. It utilizes the Multiverse Theories of physicist Lee Smolin that say that universes create new universes as opposed to collapsing into singularity as inspiration in that a new ‘universe’ begins every thirty minutes and inherits certain attributes from its ‘parent universe’ and those before it. The synthesized sound and constantly changing visuals invoke a sense of wonder about the cosmos and what is really out there. The division and consolidation that happen on the display symbolize the constant change that the Multiverse goes through, which is an incredible visual representation of something outside of our human grasp of space-time. One of the most interesting parts of the project that goes on under the hood is a direct interaction between openFrameworks and Ableton Live, which means that the sound and visuals are actually generated in tandem with one another, so, while each ‘universe’ is unique, it has matching visuals and sound that would match again under the exact same conditions. I am not only impressed by the wild physics of the modern day, I am impressed by this fantastic representation of it.

The following video is a three minute demonstration of the project.

Sarah Yae Project 4 Section B

Project 4

//Sarah Yae
//Section B
//smyae@andrew.cmu.edu
//Project-04

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

function draw() {
    background(29,41,81);

 //variables
	var a = 0;
	var b = 0;
	var c = 0;
	var d = 0;
	var e = 0;
	var f = 0;
	var g = 0;
	var h = 0;
	var s = 10;
	var t = 10;
	var u = 10;
	var v = 10;
	var w = 10;
	var s1 = 10;
	var s2 = 10;
	var s3 = 10;
	var s4 = 10;
	var s5 = 10;
	var s6 = 10;
	var s7 = 10;
	var s8 = 10;
	var s9 = 10;
	var s10 = 10;


//Star 
	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s, 10, 5, 5);
		s += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (t, 30, 5, 5);
		t += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (u, 50, 5, 5);
		u += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (v, 70, 5, 5);
		v += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (w, 90, 5, 5);
		w += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s1, 110, 5, 5);
		s1 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s2, 130, 5, 5);
		s2 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s3, 150, 5, 5);
		s3 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s4, 170, 5, 5);
		s4 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s5, 190, 5, 5);
		s5 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s6, 210, 5, 5);
		s6 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s7, 230, 5, 5);
		s7 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s8, 250, 5, 5);
		s8 += 10;
	}

	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ()
		ellipse (s9, 270, 5, 5);
		s9 += 10;
	}
	
	for (i = 0; i <= 38; i++) {
		fill ('Yellow');
		noStroke ();
		ellipse (s10, 290, 5, 5);
		s10 += 10;
	}

//Salmon String Line 
	for (i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
		stroke ('Salmon');
		strokeWeight (0.5);
		line (a, 0, 0, height-b);
		a += 10;
		b += 10;
	}

//Lavendar String Line
	for (i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
		stroke (187,180,214);
		strokeWeight (0.5);
		line (width-c, 0, width, height-d);
		c += 10;
		d += 10;
	}

//Light Green String Line
	for (i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
		stroke (191,228,118);
		strokeWeight (0.5);
		line (e, height, width, width-f);
		e += 10;
		f += 10;
	}

//Blue String Line 
	for (i = 0; i <= 100; i++) {
		stroke (148,168,208);
		strokeWeight (0.5);
		line (height-g, height, 0, height-h);
		g += 10;
		h += 10;
	}
}

This project reflects a concept of the outer space; the circles represent stars, and the strings are almost like the different dimensions of the space. I had fun making art out of the loop function!

Looking Outwards 4 – Sara Frankel

Caption: This is the sound file from Lucier’s project “I Am Sitting in a Room”. As you can tell, his voice becomes quite distorted by the end of the project as the recording has been layered on top of another so many times.

Alvin Lucier’s project, “I Am Sitting in a Room” involves his voice, a room, and a recording/stereo system. How he goes about this project is he simply records his voice in a room by himself. After recording a few sentences, he replays his voice through the sound system in the room and records that through his microphone and he continues to play and record the newly layered recording. He does this for 45 minutes. As the recordings become more and more layered, one starts to notice that his sentences are no longer coherent as they become more “echoed”. By the time one reaches the end of the recording, the voice has become completely distorted and if anything, almost harmonic. Listening to the voice at this point in the recording is almost meditative if anything due to the sound waves of his voice being layered on top of each other. I admire this project because it truly proves the point that music is everywhere and within everyone. There is music and harmonic sequence within the everyday life, even so close to us that is our voice.

For even more information, here is a link to his exhibit at the MoMA in NYC, NY: https://www.moma.org/explore/inside_out/2015/01/20/collecting-alvin-luciers-i-am-sitting-in-a-room/

Rjpark – Looking Outwards 04

Photo of Šarapovas’ Muscial Scultpure

Artist Andrius Šarapovas’ room-sized, interactive, musical sculpture features 77 individual installations comprised of a metal bar, sound activator, sound damper, resonator, and mechatronics that are used to make generative music. The project consists of 16 notes, C, D, F and G spread across 4 octaves, which are distributed throughout the room so that one can hear different music compositions at different points in the room. A note is made by the project’s algorithm which is activated by the algorithms from the apps on the Tele2’s 4G network. The algorithm for the project uses one second of 4G statistical data to generate one second of music. With multiple phones and installations, this creates a rhythm or musical pattern and sound volume. The pitch is determined by the amount of data that’s being downloaded on the phones. This algorithm seems so simple, yet it’s outcome is amazing. “The probability of the repetition of an identical four-note combination is about once in every 98,304 activations”, Šarapovas explains. What’s so admirable about this project is that the algorithm is very straightforward but the result is so complex and combinatory. You can see the artist’s artistic sensibility through this fact. As it states in the article, “Early on, Šarapovas settled on a minimalist spatial object that would consist of a number of identical segments… to balance the sound, control noises, dampen different notes, and activate sounds”.

Šarapovas Massive Robotic Instrument

Eliza Pratt – Looking Outwards 04 – Section E

Robert Henke’s audiovisual installation, Spline, uses lasers and computer generated sound to evoke a dreamlike experience.

Robert Henke is an engineer and audiovisual artist from Germany. Using a complex system of physics, lights, and synthesizers, Henke creates surreal installations that feel both futuristic and otherworldly. In his 2017 installation, Spline, he couples lasers with computer generated sounds to emulate patterns reminiscent of astronomical phenomena. Using the Max programming language, Henke has developed his own synthesizers, such as the Granulator II. Operating through “quasi-synchronous granular synthesis,” these instruments allow the user to modify the pitch and volume of grains to create unique sounds. I admire Henke for his ability to transform light, sound, and space using both scientific and artistic methods. The sound he incorporates in his installations are in perfect harmony with the mesmerizing visuals, working together to create an ethereal, omnipresent experience.