Performance Experiments Phase1: introduction

lb — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:06:47 +0000

Well howdy!

Over the next three years I will periodically demonstrate my findings through a number of live audiovisual performance experiments, documenting my approaches and related issues.

The phases are as follows:

addressing my background in composition and performance and current approaches;
addressing the literature and assimilating theoretical concepts into performance practice;
addressing the case studies / approaches and concerns of other audiovisualists;
exhibition of works and findings.

Documentation will be uploaded to VIMEO for each phase and will be used to elaborate on blog postings discussing the likes of:

compositional and performative approaches;
audience and context
comparative works and inspiration;
technological affordances and impact;

plus whatever else seems relevant at the time.

So the first phase matched up with:

a performance as part of Tom Hall’s “Left of Left” exhibition at the Judith Wright Centre in Brisbane;

Left of Left performance poster c/o Tom Hall

two performances and the presentation of my paper at the Australasian Computer Music Conference 2009 here in Brisbane.

Australasian Computer Music Conference 2009 - conference.acma.asn.au

Here is the first phase worth of video material which I will discuss in the next few blogs. Get acquainted and I’ll be back soon with a post about the Left of Left performance.

chrs

][oyd

aesthetic influences and projects in the oven

lb — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:54:01 +0000

In my last post I neglected to add this N4rgh1l3 video:

waev from Andrew Thomson on Vimeo.

I think it is a fairly representative example of how our aesthetic influences draw parallels between historical works of Visual Music and the digital arts of practitioners like Tina Frank.

Some of you may have noticed the Twitter post about “The Corner Ghost”. I’m currently curating the Installation Group Projects with some music students and our initial project is to produce a series of works for an in-house (read in QUT) installation. My own proposal is as follows:

THE CORNER GHOST

Inspired by flickers of shadow and light that are such a staple of “spooky” stories.

Aesthetically i’m inspired by the plays of light, reflection and movement in the Stan Brakhage film “Commingled Containers“.

The tools:

external webcam
microphone or motion sensor
projector
software for processing (Isadora, Jitter or maybe even Processing)
G5, Macbook or laptop (hidden)
small monitor speakers (also hidden)
1 dark, small, claustrophobic room

The webcam will send deliberately out of focus images from the outside of the room to the processor. A threshold filter will be applied to the image to create a strong black/white contrast. Sound or motion within the room will disturb / displace the image which is then projected in the room. A delayed recording of room sound is buffered and played through a spectral filter which removes most of the mid-frequency sound. This buffer is agitated by the current motion of video and played through the monitor speakers at low volume. Image should be projected at a high angle in one corner of the room and should spread across part of the walls on each side of the corner.

The point of this installation piece is that many of our fears are manifest by misunderstanding the actual and by covering up this misunderstanding with a personal fiction. The play of shadow and light is not a demon but our minds jump to the conclusion before we fully explore the rational possibilities. Of course the rational is entirely overrated and is something of a killjoy in social situations!

—-

I’m also working on a 15 minute AV performance for Ready Fire Aim at the Queensland Museum but will talk of that at another time.

][oyd

The Performing Audiovisualist » installation

Performance Experiments Phase1: introduction

aesthetic influences and projects in the oven