This project essentially stems from my interest in two fields: painting and music. They may seem like opposites in many ways, but they share certain similarities which I’m intrigued to explore and unify into a single aesthetic expression.
My focus is on how the decision-making and production processes in both painting and music can influence and reshape each other. For instance, the way decisions about changes and developments are made in painting could influence the music composition process, and vice versa.
Simply put, the project is about finding inspiration from the ‘other’ discipline. How can the visible aspects of painting affect the audible elements in music, and how can the musical elements contribute to visual creations? This way, we can give rise to new and unexpected forms of visual and auditory art.
In the visual tableau before us, a canvas unveils not merely a sonic landscape, but a dynamic interplay of stereo outputs – dual aural emanations that resonate in the left and right spectrum. Each of these pairs births distinct sonic narratives, meticulously curated to interact, challenge, and evoke. This creates a quadraphonic tapestry, each a unique musical act in itself.
My dominion over this audial canvas emerges from the nuanced vibrations birthed from the very sinews of the materials. These oscillations are not just felt, but transformed, transmuted by gain followers into the ethereal realm of MIDI – metamorphosing tangible reverberations into digital musings. Further, the canvas becomes sentient under my touch; four sensitive pressure receptors dance and shift the very sonic fabric, responding, reshaping the auditory patchwork in accordance to the weight and intention of my touch. This performance is thus not merely a passive exhibition, but a dialogic interplay between artist, medium, and sound.
The Myo armband, a wearable symphony of technology, boasts a gyroscope, accelerometer, and a muscle data reader. It captures the nuances of arm movement and the subtle tensions of muscle flexes. Through a meticulously designed Max patch, I channel the myriad of data reflecting my arm’s orientation and muscle engagement. As illustrated in the accompanying visual, movements such as Up/Down, Spin Around, and Left/Right metamorphose into a MIDI spectrum of 0-127. Moreover, distinct hand gestures – the clench of a fist, the wave outwards, the inward wave, and the splayed fingers – each send binary signals of 0 or 1. These gestures serve as my compass, guiding me through the patch’s intricacies and allowing a seamless transition between various sonic moods.
The Kinect is an infrared camera designed to monitor and track body movements. Through integration with a Max/MSP patch, it converts these movements directly into MIDI control signals.