Sound, noise and environment have become my themes of the month….especially visual environments that are augmented by digital sound, or even physical environments that produce audible reactions, such as Christopher Janney‘s Sonic Forest at Bonnaroo…
…though it’s not nearly as cool as David Webber, who really takes the idea of a ‘sonic forest’ to a wholly new level with his Organic Interface #5. This tree-theremin most of all points back to one of the major themes of this class: interfacing…not to mention imposing a completely different relationship between humans and flora. And since he has proven it possible to use trees as antennae, I look forward to the day when we could wire up a public park as some kind of massive synthesizer grove (groove?).
Another new instrument only made possible in the digital age is the reACTable, whose website provides all of the plans and software necessary to build one of these free of charge (check the software link, and scroll down to “projects based on reactivision” for some interesting and artistic derivative uses of the technology). I expect that the hardware would cost a pretty penny, though i’m definitely building one next time i have a spare projector, laptop, and digital camera lying around:
Apparently, Björk loves it, too:
Since i’m on the subject of Björk, i feel compelled to bump the video for her new single, “Wanderlust”, which is nothing short of a visual masterpiece, and a damn fine song, to boot. Encyclopedia Pictura, the visual studio behind the video and this brilliant visual metaphor:
(which, in my humble opinion, makes any other discourse on the subject unnecessary with its conciseness)
In their videos, Encyclopedia Pictura employ a style of animation whose closest analogue is Terry Gilliam’s animated asides from the “Monty Python” series, except more technically proficient by lightyears (though certainly no more bizarre).
Björk has an amazing back-catalogue of videos, and her work with Chris Cunningham is some of the most revolutionary. The video for All is Full of Love carefully comments on the nature of artificial intelligence by postulating artificial emotion. Cunningham has lent his visual genius to several other musical artists, mostly electronic, and his work with IDM titan Aphex Twin is some of the most fruitful. rubber johnny and Windowlicker are but two of many examples. Be forewarned, though, as Cunningham’s work is extremely dark, with isolation, disfiguration and grotesque irony as major themes.
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