Category: LookingOutwards-04

Shirley Chen – Looking Outward 04

Sorting is a project that generates algorithm visualization and sonification by Ren Yuan. This project makes the sorting history, data comparison, data swap,absolute error, residual sum of squares and other features visible and audible by using computer programming.  There are seven sorting algorithms to make this algorithm visualization and sonification: insertion sort, shell sort, bubble sort, quick sort, selection sort, heap sort, and merge sort.  The problem size of all sorting algorithms is 31, and the initial condition is random.

This project are very attractive to me because it visualizes the abstract computing features, picturing such invisible process of the computer directly. It even generates the sound based on the operation of these features, enhancing the visibility and concretization of the computing process. Moreover, by using certain algorithm, these features generate various, dynamic, and aesthetic patterns, shapes, and motions that can be inspirations for many artistic fields such as architecture and fine arts. Various sound that are generated by this project can be manipulated to be soundtrack for specific purposes such as using in Electronic Dance Music(EDM).  The visual representation combining with the sonification work perfectly to produce the visual and audio effects to the audience.

 

http://www.creativeapplications.net/processing/sorting-visualisation-sortification-and-sonification-of-an-algorithm/

Algorithm Visualization through Sorting

 

SORTING from Ren Yuan on Vimeo.

Kevin Riordan-Looking Outwards-04-Section C

Setup of Cycling Wheel performance in Taipei

For this week’s Looking Outwards, I chose to write about the Cycling Wheel, an installation/performance done in 2017, in Nuit Blanche Taipei. The creators Keith Lam, Seth Hon, and Alex Lai based their idea on Marcel Duchamp’s bicycle wheel sculpture, which is an upside down bicycle wheel mounted on a stool. The sounds are created by turning bicycle wheels that are lit up, and connected with strings as shown in the picture above. The sound produced is very similar to festival or techno music, but it is kind of hard to tell how the sound changes by turning the wheels in the performance, probably because there were three people controlling individual aspects of the overall sound. I could not find much about the algorithm to turn the wheel spinning into sound, but a custom made software was created using Processing, to control the light beams, led strips, and music. A picture of the interface is included, and I really admire how clean the interface looks, and how much work went into making such a unique project.

Interface for the Cycling Wheel performance

Tanvi Harkare – Looking Outwards – 04

A project that dealt with computational soundscapes is the Meandering River, created by the Funkhaus Berlin and onformative collaboration. The inspiration behind the project is the historical difference in landscapes, especially in bodies of water, that are made overtime. The objective of the art piece is to capture these changes that cannot be usually seen by the human eye. The algorithm that was specifically created for this project combines the river and surface patterns and classical music, composed by the Kling Klang Klong group, to create a colorful display. It was displayed at the Funkhaus Sound Chamber in Berlin from July 27th to the 30th in the year 2018. The creators of the project hoped that the imagery would help create a unique experience in terms of time, nature, and the emotional journey it can take us through.

I think the project is a unique way of converting audio into a dynamic visual painting. While the story behind the audiovisual installation is moving, one way they could have improved the user experience is having the art be more interactive. For example, a different image would be displayed whenever someone stood in front of it, or even touched the artwork.  

A view of the Meandering River at the Funkhaus Berlin

Jenni Lee — Looking outwards — 04

Demonstrative video of LINES – an interactive sound art exhibition

This week for my selected sound art project, I chose Swedish composer, Anders Lind’s, interactive sound art exhibition, titled “LINES.” In this sound exhibition, colored lines attached to the wall generate sound when touched. As this project is a mesh of both sound and art, it not only enables new forms of musical interaction, but it promotes innovate art exploration. The various combinations of sound that can be produced through interaction with different locations on the lines allows for unique, and inventive music. I admire that the final installation may appear to be minimalistic, but the sound component of the project allow for intricacies of sound combinations, ultimately creating a complex piece. I believe that the success of this piece can be mainly attributed to the interactive components, as users can either touch the lines with their fingers or run, walk, and hop across the lines.

Here is another video of a LINES exhibit:

Yingyang Zhou-LookingOutwards-4

Ryoji Ikeda
born in 1966 in Gifu, Japan
lives and works in Paris, France and Kyoto, Japan

Japan’s leading electronic composer and visual artist Ryoji Ikeda focuses on the essential characteristics of sound itself and that of visuals as light by means of both mathematical precision and mathematical aesthetics. Ikeda has gained a reputation as one of the few international artists working convincingly across both visual and sonic media. He elaborately orchestrates sound, visuals, materials, physical phenomena and mathematical notions into immersive live performances and installations.
Alongside of pure musical activity, Ikeda has been working on long-term projects through live performances, installations, books and CD’s such as ‘datamatics’ (2006-), ‘test pattern’ (2008-), ‘spectra’ (2001-), ‘cyclo.’ a collaborative project with Carsten Nicolai, ‘superposition’ (2012-), ‘supersymmetry’ (2014-) and ‘micro | macro’ (2015-).
//Ryoji Ikeda website

‘superposition’

superposition is a project about the way we understand the reality of nature on an atomic scale and is inspired by the mathematical notions of quantum mechanics. Performers will appear in Ikeda’s work for the first time, performing as operator/conductor/observer/examiners. All the components on stage will be in a state of superposition; sound, visuals, physical phenomena, mathematical concepts, human behaviour and randomness – these will be constantly orchestrated and de-orchestrated simultaneously in a single performance piece.

I like the projects of Ryoji Ikeda because it origins from matchmatic element and by extending it to the realm of philosophy , it shows what audiovisual can do to inspire people.

other works of Ryoji like supersymmetry presents an artistic vision of the reality of nature through an immersive and sensory experience.
This project is a series of work conceived as installation versions of the performance work “superposition” (2012-) and as a platform to update the process and outcome of a residency during 2014-15 at CERN in Geneva, the largest centre in the world for particle physics.

Elena Deng-Looking Outwards-04

After looking through the websites given to us, I wanted to analyze my favorite example of sound art. The piece I am going to describing today is Sonic Playground by Yuri Suzuki. I admire how it plays upon the idea of childhood wonder as well as transforming the space it into a playground. As a kid, my favorite part of a playground was the different forms could transport noises to the opposite side of the playground. I enjoy how the project focuses on the mechanisms of that same design in playgrounds and yet still add a different technical side to a childhood toy.

sonic playground in atlanta

From the diagram given, it seems as if the different installations are connected. According to the article, the designer uses Grasshopper and Rhinoceros which are 3D geometrical software. It uses ray tracing techniques for specific frequencies which allows for acoustic applications. It was also stated that the plug is a 3D raytracing tool that can allow the selection of a specific sound in a particular direction.

mechanisms within the art installation

According to the artist, he wanted these pieces to animate the outdoor space and allow visitors/passersby to look and interact with the art experiences.

Sophia Kim – LookingOutwards-04: Sec C

Inspired by the production of electroacoustic music and the “Symphony – electronic music” composed by Bogusław Schaeffer, the panGenerator team created the “Apparatum” to purely produce analogue sounds. The panGenerator team used two 2-track loops and three one-shot linear tape samplers as primary mediums. Along with these primary mediums, spinning discs with graphic patterns were used to obtain noise and basic tones.

I appreciate how sound design was fused with product design and communication design to make a personal experience for each user. At the end of each recording, your audio file is uploaded to a server and a ‘receipt’ is printed to show the sound patterns. The server is linked to a code/website to download the uploaded file. This experience allows the user to take something back home to remind them of this experience. I like how this machine gives freedom to people through customization of different types of sounds.

Rachel Lee Looking Outwards 04 Section E

Sonic Playground by Yuri Suzaki Design and High Atlanta (2018)

The project I have chosen to write about is Sonic Playground by Yuri Suzaki Design with High Atlanta. I admire this project because of its interactive quality, and how it engages the public in an immersive experience based on their own personal input (manipulating the sounds they are making via various processes). I think this creates an intimate relationship between the user and the artwork, and invites them to be curious and explore it piece. The creators of this piece created algorithms via a raytracing tool. This tool allowed users to pick a sound source of their choice, and relay that sound in a specified direction, or towards the shape of the mirrors of bell at the start and end of the pipes. The result of these algorithms includes sound that envelopes those interacting with the piece, and lateral reflections. I think that the creator’s artistic sensibilities manifested in the final form via the bright colors of the sound sculptures, and the shape and direction in which the ‘speakers’ point– this allows for a playfulness in not only form, but also in sound that has the potential to evoke strong emotions of joy and wonder in those interacting with Sonic Playground.

Han Yu Looking Outwards 04

MULTIVERSE by fuse*

The record of MULTIVERSE by fuse*, Italy 2018.

MULTIVERSE is an audio-visual installation by the Italian based studio and production company, fuse*. The project draws inspirations from physics theories about multiverse and simulates the everlasting births and deaths of countless parallel universes. Watching the replay of this magnificent display of the multiverse that only exists in my wildest imagination before, I felt the power of infinite possibilities of life showcased in this project, magnified through a gigantic display. The project was delivered by a vertical projection of 7.5 meters high and two echoing mirrors that generates an infinite display.

How developers from fuse* generate the non-repeating simulation using live data.

The algorithms used in the project was in a software by openFrameworks that manages interactions with multiple softwares like AbletonLive and Max/MSP through with various scenes are generated and connected. The project successfully simulated the random changes during the creations of universes as each scene represents an evolutionary path of the multiverse. Each display is a unique variation that never repeats itself.

Snapshot of MULTIVERSE projected for the first time in Borgo delle Colonne, Italy in 2018.

 

Alice Fang–Looking Outwards–4


Turbulent Forms

Dan Tapper is a British artist who combines code with his interest in celestial bodies and objects in the universe. The second iteration of his project Turbulent Forms is in collaboration with the Canadian Music Centre, and is a sonification of cosmic phenomena. Using abstract ideas of space and chaos, Tapper created software that generated modulated “sine tones of various pitches” and then collaborated with various artists and composers to create a composition. In total, six songs were produced, and performed at a NOVA concert.

While listening to the pieces, I was immediately reminded of the scores produced for the movie Interstellar, and it’s interesting how the generated pitches and almost mechanized sounds lend themselves to imagery of being in space. The general concept of the music is to “collectively simulate motions of bodies being pulled into the influence of a black hole” and that feeling of nothingness, of tension and anxiety, are definitely captured by the different pieces. I also think it’s really interesting that some of the artists actually pulled from NASA recordings as source material, creating an ambience that is very reminiscence of space.

Read more about this collaborative project!