Thursday, May 28, 2009

martin böttger - QUBY

QUBY


QUBY from tsaworks_martin Böttger on Vimeo.

Martin böttger, Germany has several videos on Vimeo - some of these are also installations. Excellent work and great audio visual connections.  This video he created with Maya.
His Blog: tsaworks

Of his many video excerpts on vimeo, this work creeated in collaboration with Bruno Dias is wonderful - such tight 3D integration with the audio.

Tractor

TRACTOR from tsaworks_martin Böttger on Vimeo.


Vimeo Video Channels

There are some really interesting vimeo channels showcasing contemporary work in the audio visual field. These channels are a great opportunity to see what is going on with audio visual work/art/music today. They also demonstrate how many different fields that audio visual works are taking place in - such as in installation settings, as interfaces, in gallery spaces, as films and animations led by music collaborations and music label collaborations - there are just so many ways now in which audio and visual are being put together...I like to still call all these approaches visual music. (Author Comment)

Experimental Motion Graphics Channel http://vimeo.com/channels/motiongraphics

Designflux
http://vimeo.com/channels/designflux "Designflux exists as a quarterly publication, bringing together interviews, reviews and portfolios of the best in contemporary motion design. This channel acts as a means to showcase work we are watching at Designflux as well as to publish special information on up and coming issues. More info at www.designflux.com"



Check out also http://vimeo.com/videomusical - suggested by Gabriel Shalom

VPlay: An Interactie Surface for VJing by Stuart Taylor

This demonstration of an intereactive surface for VJing is excellent. The purpose of this interface is as said by Stuart Taylor on his vimeo page. "VPlay is an interactive multi-touch surface designed to open up the practice of VJing, encouraging new creative dialogues to be formed between VJs and members of the audience." http://vimeo.com/2738692



VPlay: An Interactive Surface for VJing from Stuart Taylor on Vimeo.


Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Ron Pellegrino - EMERGENT MUSIC AND VISUAL MUSIC: INSIDE STUDIES

NEW VISUAL MUSIC RESOURCES from Ron Pellegrino

Ron Pellegrino's website has an extensive amount of resources that are of great relevance for any studies into visual music and visual music visualisers.  Not only does it document his own work, but also provides links to his writings on the area of music and visual studies and writings and resources on visual music. For example some really excellent resources can be found linked from the homepage of his website - http://www.ronpellegrinoselectronicartsproductions.org/
Topics and Resources such as:
Visual Music
Compositional Thinking

Of interest is his recent writings and resources and a book and DVD now available.

EMERGENT MUSIC AND VISUAL MUSIC: INSIDE STUDIES - BOOK and DVD - 2009

Some new visual music resources from Ron Pellegrino that should be of interest to music visualizers:

Just released on Amazon.com  and now available are 





EMERGENT MUSIC AND VISUAL MUSIC: INSIDE STUDIES

Part 1: The Book Part 2; The DVDs
a project of electronic arts pioneer, Ron Pellegrino.
To learn more about the project go to the following URL - http://www.ronpellegrinoselectronicartsproductions.org/Pages/OhNineSiteExtension/Introduction.html or copy "EMERGENT MUSIC AND VISUAL MUSIC: INSIDE STUDIES" into Amazon.com's search field.




VISUAL MUSIC SYNTHESIS SYSTEM

eBay Auction Materials for a Sonic and Visual Music Synthesizer - Synthi AKS and Laser Animator

Also, a unique visual music synthesis system is on the auction block at eBay and will be there until Monday, May 18, 2009. To learn more the system go to the following URL - Sonic & Visual Music Synthesizer.. or go to eBay and copy "Sonic & Visual Music Synthesizer - Synthi AKS & Laser Animator" into eBays search field.









Earlier Visual Music Resources

The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light - The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light by Ronald Pellegrino (c) 1983 by Van Nostrand Reinhold Company Inc. ISBN 0-442-26499-2. The following website provides excerpts from this book.

"I signed the contract to write The Electronic Arts of Sound and Light in the spring of 1977, started working on it in the fall of 1977, and finished it during the summer of 1981. During those four years I spent more than 9 months out of every year on the road giving multimedia performances in the USA and abroad, teaching music composition and technology for a year at Miami University and for three years at Texas Tech University, consulting on business electronic arts projects, founding/directing and finding funds for The Leading Edge Music Series in Lubbock, Texas, and helping to establish the long running New Music America Festivals. In other words, I was actually working on the subject material of the book and writing about it during the cracks in my schedule.

....

The book covers the first 14 years of my research in the electronic arts - from 1967 to 1981. ... it's the first book to deal in detail with the subjects of visual music, real-time composition, and performance multimedia with electronic instruments (in the 70s and early 80s it was called intermedia or integrated media).

The notion of visual music, a sphere I've been exploring since the late 60s, is just beginning to pick up steam in the late 90s probably because the younger generation of artists is growing up in a multimedia world. The vast majority of older (over 30?) visual artists tend to be studio, gallery, and object oriented. They are materialists with a weak sense of the ephemeral and whatÕs involved in articulating the dynamical flow of time. Specialists in music seem to be too busy with their notes or generally disinclined to explore the sphere of visual music. Finally in the late 90s the new breed of multimedia artist is emerging, younger artists who seem to sense that today's instrument of the electronic arts, the multimedia computer, has the built-in facility for integrating the electronic arts of sound and light. The multimedia computer and a language like Java, that can function as a software multimedia synthesizer, bring us to the threshold of a visual music age."...

Some relevant links

Main Website for Ron Pellegrino

Katherine Lubar - Colour to Music Intervals - Painting

Applying Concepts of Musical Consonance and Dissonance to Colour

An edited version of this article was published in the May 2004 edition of the journal Leonardo (Vol. 37, No. 2)

Katherine Lubar is a painter and musician who applies concepts of musical consonance and dissonance to the use of colour in her paintings. This article on colour intervals is a most comprehensive account of how she does this in her work, it is also an excellent article documenting a colour to music interval correspondence. (Author Comment)

"After comparing the colour intervals to their musical counterparts, I do feel they share something in common — the colour intervals don’t have the same character as each of the musical intervals, but both seem to follow a similar pattern in terms of which work harmoniously and which don’t. In addition, I have realized, from this research, the importance of the element of contrast to both visual and musical compositions. So while these correlations may not all work on a practical level, they can at least give us a greater understanding of colour on a more metaphorical level. The idea of correlating colour intervals to musical intervals could possibly provide a new method of examining the way colour is used in visual compositions. It is worth analysing paintings that work well colourwise, to see how their intervals relate in terms of consonance and dissonance. I would invite the reader to apply the principles outlined in this paper to such works and to use their own perception of colour to investigate these ideas further."

Website: http://www.katlubar.com/html/theories.html

Monday, May 25, 2009

Preserving Visual Music - By Holly Willis for Blur + Sharpen

Preserving Visual Music - By Holly Willis - May 8, 2009

"After more than 70 years and the explosion of visual culture, the stunning animated films of Oskar Fischinger remain unparalleled. Fischinger, who emigrated to Los Angeles from Germany in 1936 and became one of the city's central figures in a burgeoning avant-garde filmmaking community, created dozens of dazzling visual explorations of sound...

This question is tackled head-on by Cindy Keefer, Director of LA's Center for Visual Music, which is dedicated to this particular genre of experimental film...

one of the Center's key objectives is preservation. In this context, CVM recently announced that it has received funds from the Avant-Garde Masters Grant (which is funded by The Film Foundation and managed by the National Film Preservation Foundation) to preserve three reels of Fischinger's original 35mm nitrate film experiments from his Raumlichtkunst multiple projector performances of the 1920s."
Extracts from the article by Holly Willis
Read the full article >>

Visual Music and Abstract Animation Playlist - YouTube

Two playlists that I add to every so often on YouTube are Visual Music and Abstract Animation. They are by no means exhaustive, but I hope to add to this more frequently. If you have any suggestions for YouTube links that I could add to these playlists, please do email me at: mmcd@soundingvisual.com I have other playlists but thought it useful to embed the more relevant ones here.


Visual Music Playlist

Link to Visual Music Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=F5838B01D3B5A7CC

Abstract Animation Playlist

Link to Abstract Animation Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=678CDE1A94F6651C

Experimental Music Video Playlist

Link to Experimental Music Video Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=3AB1EC6363EE36E2

Composer - Ronan Guilfoyle - Rhythm Book/Essays

Being Irish of course, I am aware and familiar with contemporary music composition in Ireland.  I hope to make more posts about music composition or things musical that could be helpful for visual music or audio visual work. Ronan Guilfoyle is one of the prominent contemporary composers working in Ireland today, he is also a Acoustic Bass Guitarist and Educator. It has always been of interest to me that Visual Music has at its core a strong consideration for music composition or a musical thinking to composition. What is it that is being explored with visuals that is so musical - one of the more important elements is rhythm - how time is handled. Ronan has written some essays on the subject of rhythm in relation of course to music composition and jazz in particular. They are available to check out on his website.(Author comment)


The essays on rhythm - some of the titles listed on his website - such as
 'creative rhythmic concepts for jazz improvisation;
the rhythm book – 10 years later……….;
"where's the 1!?";
the art and science of time ii;
contemporary music?;
what is jazz?;
the art and science of time;
philosophy of jazz?;
control freaks?;
composition and improvisation
can be viewed at:
http://www.ronanguilfoyle.com/press.html


Purchase Creative Rhythms Concepts for Jazz Improvisation at Amazon



Sunday, May 24, 2009

Cimatics\09\Festival - Call for Works


CIMATICS\09\FESTIVAL Brussels

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS.
DEADLINE: JULY 31.2009


Cimatics - Brussels International Festival for Live Audiovisual Art & VJing - invites all artists, creatives and producers to send their submissions for the next Cimatics festival.

Cimatics festival takes place from 20th - 29th November 2009 at various locations in the centre of Brussels.

The 7th festival edition will again bring an extensive overview of what's currently taking place at the crossroads of media, art, music and technology.
See: http://cimatics.com/cms_site/news/archive/article.php?id=53

Online submission form at:
http://www.cimatics.com/entries/index.php

biot(h)ing - Invisibles - Alisa Andrasek

I have just come across this most interesting installation research project to be shortly exhibited in paris. There is a lot of imagery that uses software generative processes to create "scripted" imagery - these images are always incredibly beautiful, and ordered displaying the most wonderful 'ordered' patterns that would be very hard to realise/create by hand processes. When these patterns are tied up to audio processes, then the most incredible synergy seems to take place. This project is a very physical realisation of both scripted animation and an interactive sonar field. What caught my eye was the imagery and the tight connection with sound. (Author comment)


"biot(h)ing - Invisibles is an interactive installation exhibited at the Prague Biennale and is to be exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 2009. ‘Invisibles' by biot(h)ing uses holosonic speakers to create sound patterns projected into an interactive space. These speakers isolate individual cones of sound, creating a counterintuitive experience for the visitors as they move through different vibrations of sonar projections. At the same time LCD Screens display streams of information as it crystallizes and becomes visible through pulses of dynamic morphologies of 3D Cells scripted in animation software. These crystallized streams may also be affected by the physical environment through an interactive sonar field. At the core of this audio/visual/physical interface is an interactie sound programming environment that alters conventional forms of musical composition through the incorporation of algorithmically based processes. The user navigates the software's internal intelligence less like a composer and more like a programmer, adjusting various parameters to indirectly influence the system's internal network dynamics. The granular synthesis of sound results form the generation of thousands of short sonic grains which are combined linearly to form large-scale audio events."



"biothing is a research-design laboratory whose structure derives from particular linkages between various disciplinary and technological nodes, promoting intra-specific creative relationships which in turn serve as a transformative tissue for the design process itself..."
http://www.biothing.org/flash.htm

More info on biothing at:
http://www.biothing.org/wiki/doku.php?id=biothing

biothing has published work see wiki link below


http://www.biothing.org/wiki/doku.php

See also:

This work is incredible - stunning.  Definitely worth adding a link to the photos on flickr



Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sound out of Paper - Research Project - Andrei Smirnov

"Sound out of Paper is a research project in progress related to the technology of synthesizing sound from light called Graphical (Drawn) Sound technique which was invented in Soviet Russia in 1929 as a consequence of the newly invented sound-on-film technology. At exactly the same time similar efforts were being undertaken in Germany by Rudolf Pfenninger in Munich and, somewhat later, by Oscar Fischinger in Berlin. As such the history of the Graphical Sound is an interesting cross section of 20th century history, reaching from the euphoria of the late 19th Century and early 20th Century inventors through the paradigm-smashing experiments of the Soviet avant-garde in the 1920's and 1930's to the cynical clash of ideologies of the Post-war years and finally to the dawn of the digital era in the 1970's."
Source: Andrey Smirnov :: main projects at - http://asmir.theremin.ru/gsound1.htm
Theremin Center
Moscow State Conservatory
Bolshaya Nikitskaya 13
Moscow, 125009
Russia

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Heike Sperling : Visual Music Resource


Excellent and really relevant resource on Visual Music authored by Hieke Sperling.

"Dr. Heike Sperling is co-chairing with Prof. Manfred Becker the post-graduate-program Motion Design at Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg since 1998.
She has also been teaching at the University of the Arts (HFK) Bremen, the University of Applied Sciences Salzburg, Austria, and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland in Basel."

Heike's website also documents her own work and students work where she teaches visual music, it also documents talks and workshops she gives.



All screenshots link to pages of her website
Website

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

Kate McKeon - Adrift

Music Video by Kate McKeon, based in Ireland for Band Halfset.


Halfset - Adrift - Kate McKeon on MUZU.


See Kate McKeon's Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/katemckeonphotography

I did an earlier post on Kate's Visual Music Piece- Carnival
Link to it here

Monday, May 18, 2009

Collectif EXYZT - inter disciplinary

EXYZT is a inter disciplinary collective based in paris ( architects, artists, cooks, graphic designer, vj's, ... )

These video excerpts documenting are so good I had to embed a few of them here, so I could easily come back to this post again and view these incredible vj/dj/performance, live, architecture sets - see their video channel on YouTube
http://www.youtube.com/user/exyzt


Boom-Box / Dj'stage / EXYZT / 1024 / Nuit-Blanche / Amiens / 4. oct 2008




USHBOOM / EXYZT @ Karosta / 2007


"A Video performance at the Labichampi festival in karosta ( Latvia )... As ninauguration of the timber structure we built in the an abandonned soviet house we performed on the facade thanks to a very simple set up. 1 mac 3 4500 lum beamers ...
K@2 futur art center ?! in 2010"


Square CUBE / ETIENNE DE CRECY LIVE / Model Test



Vimeo
"An amazing electronic music live by Etienne de Crecy at the "transmusicales de Rennes" music festival"

Etienne De Crecy Live 2007 Transmusicales de Rennes from Clement bournat on Vimeo.


AlloSphere Research Factility - Interecting Science, Engineering and New Media


California NanoSystems Institute, UC Santa Barbara
"The AlloSphere is a unique, one-of-a-kind scientific instrument that is a culmination of 24 years of Professor JoAnn Kuchera-Morin's creativity and research efforts in media systems and studio design. She approached the design of the AlloSphere in much the same way that she composes a piece of music...
The AlloSphere space consists of a 3-story cube that is treated with extensive sound absorption material making it one of the largest anechoic chambers in the world. Standing inside this chamber are two 5-meter-radius hemispheres constructed of perforated aluminum that are designed to be optically opaque and acoustically transparent.
There are currently two projectors, soon to be multiple high-resolution video projectors, mounted around the seam between the two hemispheres, approaching eye-limited resolution on the inner surface. The loudspeaker real-time sound synthesis cluster (around 500 individual speaker elements plus sub-woofers) is/will be suspended behind the aluminum screen resulting in 3-D audio. Other clusters include simulation, sensor-array processing, effector-array processing, real-time video processing for motion-capture and visual computing, render-farm/real-time ray-tracing and radiosity cluster, and content and prototyping environments."
See: http://www.allosphere.ucsb.edu/index.php

VIDEO EXCERPTS
View videos on their media page illustrating work "that allows the AlloSphere Research Facility to function at both the atomic and macroscopic levels. Scroll through the video player to view incredible visualisations. Sample video excerpts from some of their projects.

>>Artificial Nature/Biogenerative Art
>>AlloBrain
>>Multimodal Representation of >>Quantum Mechanics: The Hydrogen Atom
>>Artistic Patterning and Structural Growth New Atomic Bonding: Multi-Center Hydrogen Bond. An Interactive Visualization and Multi-modal Representation of Unique Atomic Bonds for Alternative Fuel Sources

Video Excerpt from the TED conference. (Technology, Entertainment, Design)
"JoAnn Kuchera-Morin demos the AlloSphere, a new way to see, hear and interpret scientific data. Dive into the brain, feel electron spin, hear the music of the elements ... and detect previously unseen patterns that could lead to new discoveries."
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/joann_kuchera_morin_tours_the_allosphere.html

Friday, May 15, 2009

Nancy Herman - Visual Music

Nancy creates visual music works in both BlissPaint and Flash as the artist says, she creates "work that actually could be 'played' in real time if the colors were attached to keys on a musical key board."
Her desire is to create an instrument that could play color in time. The key issue for Nancy is to "'tune' the color through several spectra creating a smooth transition from light to dark. I think the color itself will create the 'music' over time- note the shapes of the color, or the way the color moves". Source: Artist website - www.nancyherman.com

Nancy has created several of these color in time works and they are available to preview on her website at:
http://visualmusic.nancyherman.com/

Link to Satie's Gymnopodies

I have been aware of Nancy's work for long time and meant to blog about this ages ago. Very consistent and accurate color in time works, worth checking out.

Thursday, May 14, 2009

Visualising Music

Came across this amazing video demonstrating a visualising of music created with software. The YouTube video channel belongs to username inwit and there are a few more videos of this visualising of music - incredible stuff.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

onedotzero_adventures in motion: call for submissions

onedotzero adventures in motion: now open for submissions!

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FRIDAY 29 MAY 2009

"onedotzero_adventures in motion is acclaimed by artists, audiences and creative industry alike for being the world leader in audio-visual arts and entertainments at the forefront of a new experiential festival experience which combines music, film, play, live performance, interactivity, digital arts and culture.
onedotzero_adventures in motion festival is now open to receive visually progressive moving image work for their 2009/2010 global touring festival.
the festival premier takes place in london at BFI Southbank, 9-13 september 2009, followed by an extensive international tour which kicks off in buenos aires, 25-27 september 2009. "

More information on submissions at: http://www.onedotzero.com/submissions

Monday, May 11, 2009

Ryoichi Kurokawa - Japan - audiovisual artist

"Ryoichi Kurokawa is a japanese audiovisual artist. His works take on multiple forms such as screening works, recordings, installation and live performance. Kurokawa composes time based sculpture with digital generated materials and field recorded sources, and the minimal and the complexities coexist there. Kurokawa accepts sound and imagery as a unit not as separately, and constructs very exquisite and precise computer based works with the audiovisual language. That shortens mutual distance, the reciprocity and the synchronization of sound and visual composition. He also performed live-visual for musicians such as HUMAN AUDIO SPONGE(ex.YMO: Sketch Show + Ryuichi Sakamoto). In recent years, Kurokawa is invited to numerous noted international festivals and museums in Europe, US and Asia including TATE MODERN[UK], ARS ELECTRONICA[AT], transmediale[DE], Shanghai eARTS[CN], MUTEK[CA], TodaysArt[NL] and SONAR[ES] for exhibition, screening or audiovisual concert, and he continues to be an active presence on the international stage."
Website: http://www.ryoichikurokawa.com/

Youtube:Ryoichi Kurokawa (Osaka, JP) @ cimatics 17/11 video clip - Audiovisual concert



Link to youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtSiVgRDrk4

New work Rheo - audiovisual concert
"rheo is a triptych 5.1 surround sound cross-media performance by Ryoichi Kurokawa (JP). rheo will be premiered on March 19 & 20 at VIA Festival (Maubeuge, FR) and on April 2 & 3 at EXIT Festival (Maison des Arts de Créteil, Paris). (rheo is a Cimatics production)
website: http://www.cimatics.com/cms_site/news/archive/article.php?id=21

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Nihil 12 from _blank

Nihil 12 from _blank on Vimeo.

"_blank is an entity
null66913 is a place
_blank = female subject [error.msg#vibration too abstract to be considered a person]
null66913:core {
experimentalOBJECTS
}"

Gwen Vanhee - Flash AS2 generated visuals - Belgium

morphing from Gwen Vanhee on Vimeo.

Geomtrical formes morphing into lines as they age. Cross-media explorations.
"Movement, shapes & colors are AS2 (flash) generated, some parameters are controlled by mouse-gestures.
The video itself is a compilation of several screen captures, taken while rendering. Audio was added afterwards."
Audio: Cinematic Orchestra - All things to all men
Vimeo Channel
More images
The freshness of the colours against the muted background is really quite beautiful. This piece in particular creates wonderful matches with music activity. (Author comment)

Saturday, May 9, 2009

Otolab - Italy

"Otolab was founded in 2001 in Milan by an affinity group of musicians, djs, vjs, videoartists, videomakers, web designers, graphic designers and architects joined to go through a common path in the field of the electronic music and audiovisual research.
The projects are developed through lab sessions, seminars and live performance according to the principles of brainstorming and mutual support, free circulation of knowledge and experimentation."

See the otolab vimeo video channel for examples of their audiovisual works and performances

http://www.otolab.net/
http://www.vimeo.com/otolab


Selection of audiovisual works project descriptions
Op7

otolab, op7 (demo) from otolab on Vimeo.

otolab 2007 --audio: sn, dies_, mud, scrub, maikko, tonylight --video: mud, dies_, xo00, peppolasagna, fd, orgone --total time (live): 50,00'

"op7 is a live audiovisual performance that develops a new way of reading the concept of the tunnel as a metaphor of the journey and the survey about the audiovisual perception, through the optical language.
The project was realized for the Mixed Media festival taking place at the Hangar Bicocca in front of the installation “Seven Heavenly Doors” of Kiefer. Seven entrances, seven tunnels, seven journeys throughout as many experience optical environments looking for the final entire and unique wholeness."
http://www.otolab.net/data/projects/op7/op7-body.htm
see review of Otolabs at Cimatics 2007 "the graphics were made in 3DStudio Max" Three screen performance.

field

otolab, field from otolab on Vimeo.

audio: ssim_el
video: orgone
otolab 2007

remains 01-02

otolab, remains 01-02 from otolab on Vimeo.


audio and video: dies_
Total time: 30'
otolab 2005
"The techniques: Two sources are mixed on the screen: the first one is the 3D rendering that composes the narrative plot of the main body and its deformations; the second source is given by AVS files that move geometrically following the sound input coming from a laptop where the whole sound performance is carried out live."
http://www.otolab.net/data/projects/remains/remains-body.htm

events listing on their website

Friday, May 8, 2009

Junk Box Fraud - Multimedia Performance - Ireland


Junk Box Fraud -is an incredible music composition by Irish Composer Donnacha Dennehy for cl, trb, 2 pf, 2 speakers, tape, video [video by Hugh Reynolds and Gerry O'Brien]

This video in the vimeo excerpt was performed by Crash Ensemble, Natasha Lohan and Laura Moody at Shindig concert, SS Michael & John, Dublin, 13.10.07 with cameras by Mark Linnane and John Bates.

http://www.donnachadennehy.com
The video was premiered by Crash Ensemble in the Samuel Beckett theatre in 1997, which I saw and credit with my crazy but exciting path into visual music... it was an incredible work and is one my favourite multimedia music compositions - visuals and music.  That particular performance was sheer magic. It was the sheer combination of energies of the singer performances, the energy and speed of the rhythm of the music and the incredible energy and appearance and disappearance of the visuals in the video projection behind the musicians, the impact of this work and the blackness of the theatre setting of the Samuel Beckett Theatre in Trinity College, Dublin left me reeling - this was one amazing performance, composition and video...and still is of course. (Author comment)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

12_Series by Telcosystems - 2009

12_Series is a new generative multichannel computer installation by Telcosystems (NL).

12_series - work in progress pt. 2 from Telcosystems.

"The installation is an audiovisual horizon comprised of twelve identical image and sound generating machines.  
The software for these machines is based on the idea of evolution, implementing forms of audiovisual imitation, mutation and recombination, aiming for the emergence of captivating complexity from a vocabulary of rudimentary shapes, sounds and logic.
The system is build around the notion of decentralized autonomous decision making, where each machine displays its own generative behavior, while reacting to behavior of neighboring machines and adapting to centrally organized environmental variables. In this way the installation focuses on the tension between the individual and the group, between the machine specific development and the group dynamics that determine the ever-evolving horizon.

Imitation will be used as a way to start complex group behavior, steering groups of machines into similar audiovisual directions. Mutation will initiate variation, by injecting errors into this imitation process and recombination enables the interchange and reinterpretation of output material amongst the twelve machines, adding another layer of coherency.
Besides finding ways to create the building blocks that assemble into complex generative individuals, the aim is to find boundaries for their mutative behavior, in a way that allows the result to surpass our imagination."
- Source: http://vimeo.com/4118369
- Source: http://www.telcosystems.net/index.php/projects/2009-12_series/

Main Telcosystems website

About Telcosystems

"Telcosystems researches the relation between the behavior of programmed numerical logic and the perception of a conversion of this behavior into the physical world, seeking for its own narrative in the world of abstract spatial image and sound. The hallmark of their work is its lucid and restrained aestheticism, which is closely related to the technology they use."
http://www.telcosystems.net/index.php/about/

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Visual Music Essay - 2007 - Maura McDonnell

I am hoping to better gather together essays and articles on visual music and visual music relevant topics in this blog.  I have only recently realised that blogger provides a tag facility, and so posts can be accessed via the tags.  A few such tags I wish to try to provide more posts for is the tags: essay, article, research, writing.  I have come across a lot of good writing - online or otherwise, so I am probably really doing this for myself, so I can quickly get access to them again.  CVM and iotaCenter based in Los Angeles, US provide really good resources and links to excellent resources.  Check them out for more up to date and extensive links.

If you have a link to an excellent essay, piece of writing or resource, I would love to put it in this blog, if you could email me at mmcd@soundingvisual.com, I would be delighted to hear from you and to share the resource on this blog.

Dennis H. Miller based in Northeastern University, Boston invited me to write an essay on Visual Music for the program catalog for the Visual Music Marathon held in Boston, US in April in 2007 and then presented fully again in New York, US in April 2009.  The essay was published in both catalogs.  The essay was based on visual music lecture notes I had prepared for a specific set of classes I taught on Visual Music to students attending the Music and Media Technology M.Phil. course at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland (I still present the visual music classes on that course).  At the time, the intention of the lecture notes was to introduce students to visual music and to show them that there was plenty of historical precedents for pursuing a very close relationship between music and image. As the  course has a very strong practical element to it, students have to create their own work.  So the point of the lecture was to provide a context from which they could possibly place their own music and image assignments and if they choose to also pursue this in their final thesis project.  The lecture I gave on visual music did have a very practical focus to it.  I shared these notes with Dennis H. Miller ( and he shared excellent teaching material with me).   Dennis invitation to me was to write up the lecture notes in an essay form.  It was not an easy task (much much easier to jot down notes and talk - as in a teaching situation)!

The essay is an introduction to visual music.   It is definitely not definitive, but it is a start for me to articulate beyond notes.  The essay has many credits from the experts who checked it over for me and to whom I am very grateful.

DOWNLOAD: The visual music essay (without images - text only) can be downloaded here.

The New York Visual Music Marathon - 2009 program booklet can be downloaded from the Northeastern University website, the Visual Music Program Catalog - 2009  includes the visual music essay (not with all images from the print version, but with some) I wrote, but also includes the program note for the 60 or so contemporary works shown at the visual music marathon. 

[Maura McDonnell - author]

Saturday, May 2, 2009

Australian Cinémathèque - Visual Music - 2008

PAST EVENT
This is a past Visual Music event held in Queensland  Gallery of Modern Art in 2008.  The website documenting the Visual Music program screened is really useful as it provides an excellent overview of historical works in particular with a really useful list of their films, each filmmaker/artist is linked with a page overviewing their work and listing the films screened for the Visual Music program.  The website also provides information on the curators for the event - a really useful resource on Visual Music. (Author comment)

Visual Music - 28 March – 1 June 2008 


"The cinematic genre of Visual Music draws on elements of form, colour and rhythm in music and images to create visual symphonies. Working with abstraction and figuration, gesture, pitch, beat and palette, filmmakers have explored the dynamism of sight and sound synaesthesia - hearing colour and line, seeing rhythm and tone - through innovative techniques and aesthetics. The Australian Cinémathèque’s Visual Music program includes an extraordinary range of approaches to this genre, from the Silly Symphonies, early Walt Disney musical animations, to retrospective programs of visual music pioneers, selections of rarely screened classics and contemporary works...."

Works shown by:
Alexandre Alexeïeff and Claire Parker
Saul Bass
Jordan Belson
Stan Brakhage
Mary Ellen Bute
Oskar Fischinger
Len Lye
Light Play: Visual Music Pioneers
Norman McLaren
Rare Classics: Essential Visual Music
Soundfields from the Netherlands
Bärbel Neubauer
James and John Whitney

"The Australian Cinémathèque, located at the Queensland Gallery of Modern Art, presents retrospective and thematic film programs and exhibitions, exploring the important lines of influence between the moving image and other areas of visual culture, and showcasing the work of influential filmmakers and artists. Its mission is to collect, conserve, present and interpret film and screen culture."
Source: http://qag.qld.gov.au/cinematheque