Julia Nishizaki – Looking Outwards – 02

Marius Watz (http://mariuswatz.com/) is a Norwegian artist based in New York and Oslo, who works through generative software processes. He has a wide variety of works, some of which deal in data visualization, and others which result in physical, 3D printed pieces. Watz is known for his vibrant colors and geometric forms.

The works that I chose to write about are a part of Marius Watz’s KBG series. This series was created for the Kongsberg Jazz Festival in 2010, an international jazz festival held annually in Kongsberg, Norway. I found this series particularly interesting, as Watz selected five classic and contemporary jazz tracks, by Radka Toneff, Atomic, Sonny Rollins, Håkon Kornstad and Røyksopp, and created five visual interpretations of the music. According to his website, he used Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis of the sound as his data input.

I particularly admire this project because of Marius Watz’s use of color and dynamic motion to capture the fun, vibrant, and wide ranging tones and feelings of jazz. Even though these images were mainly used on posters and documentation that wasn’t moving, the geometric and dynamic nature of the forms still draw you in and engage you in a similar way to how music would, giving the audience a sense of what to expect at this festival.