Installations run throughout conference in rooms 1/07, 1/08, 1/09 and 1/10 (Level 1)
The Sonic-Optical Unconscious
Paul Goodfellow (Abertay University)
The traditional model of the real-time visualist is the music controlling or directing visuals through the transmission of midi signals or through direct and intuitive manipulation by the artist in response to the music data or experience. This project inverts this model, and the images are created and manipulated in real-time by the artist and this visual data, in the form of pixel values, is used as information to drive signals to produce the audio.
Deep Space Game
Yoichi Nagashima (Shizuoka University of Art and Culture)
This work is a multimodal interactive sound installation(game) with special interface: eight rubbing/tactile sensors. Experience visitor controls sounds and 3D graphics with this interface in realtime, immerse oneself in the output multimedia (virtual space). In addition to that, the rubbing/tactile sensors return to fingers with real physical reaction which sensory reminds about the real and virtual. The game has two modes, first a "practice" mode with static graphics to understand the relationship between sensor control and the generated sound/3D graphics, and then a "challenge" mode with dynamic graphics to control the sensors for a state of deep space immersion.
This system is as a "Serious Game", for "MCI prevention" (activating the brain through the sense of touch at the fingertips in conjunction with hearing and vision). According to the theory of Interoception, the rubbing/tactile sensor operation and soft physical reactions of this system are closely related to human Emotion/Feeling, etc. By paying attention to all eight fingers, applying and relaxing pressure to gently and evenly press the sensor, and experiencing the accompanying sound and 3D graphics biofeedback, humans involuntarily smile and experience a sense of wellness with gentle feeling. Professionals who experienced this installation work (nursing, caregiving, therapy) gave it high marks for its significance as a serious game effective for rehabilitation.
NeuroMostly: An Homage to Lucier
G. Douglas Barrett (Syracuse University)
This interactive audio installation provides a wearable alternate controller interface that sonifies a participant’s brainwaves to create an evolving melodic soundscape. Technologically, NeuroMostly uses a modified Muse 2 Sensing Headband, a consumer device designed to measure brain activity to aid in meditation and sleep analysis. A laptop running Max reads OSC messages from the device that corresponds to Alpha, Beta, Delta, Theta, and Gamma (ABDTG) waves, raw EEG data, and head position. Musically, the Max patch uses list operations to construct an algorithm that converts the approximate differences between the ABDTG waves into members of a pre-selected musical scale. The averaged raw EEG data is used to continuously alter the tempo of an object that plays through this scale, providing a dream-like rubato feel. Conceptually, the author conceives NeuroMostly an homage to the late experimental composer Alvin Lucier (1931–2021) and the pioneering use of neurofeedback in his 1965 work Music for Solo Performer.
A demo preview video of NeuroMostly is available here: https://vimeo.com/824519611
ScoreCraft: Fall by Goni Peles
Goni Pales and (Bath Spa University) and Yuval Adler (McGill University)
ScoreCraft is a multiplayer music game exploring online music making mediated through gameplay. Each player controls the game by producing sounds, therefore, by playing the game the players are making music. ScoreCraft is structured as a modular environment consisting of a collection of mini games and scenarios. Mini games require the players to produce a particular set of sounds in order to interact with the game, shaping musical material. Scenarios determine how the mini games are arranged, organising the musical material into larger musical forms. We present a single player installation version of the ScoreCraft scenario ‘Fall’, which is based on the mini game ‘Gaps’. The scenario consists of a series of race tracks, each containing barriers with gaps in them, which the player should pass through in order to reach the bottom of the track and complete it. The scenario is over once all the tracks have been completed.
The Unbearable Lightness of Words
Jaeyoung Elsa Park (Independent artist)
'If we could measure the weight of words – be it positive or negative - and that measurement was audible, how would we react to one another?'
‘The Unbearable Lightness of Words’ is an interactive, web-based sound cinema installation, exploring ‘one’s sound of mind’ based on sonification of South-Korean family story with violent language and psychological data of Korean adult’s language experiences in 2019-2022. It is a sound-documentary to record the collective memory of people in Korea today as well as to explore emotionally communicative channel that listeners can share their own ‘weight of words’ in auditory set.
In the sound cinema, listeners can interact with the installation by responding to each character’s use of words. With the “sound objects” representing the characters, it lets listeners actively commune with characters by changing the sonic texture by their moods like filtering and reverberation as a conductor.
The distinctive sound produced by the character’s chunks of sound features not only spoken words, but also sonification that demonstrate what is happening inside the ‘characters’ minds’ and how internal family relationships affect their outlook. The sound captures of the characters are made up of field recordings, sequences from whole tone scales to juxtapose discordant family relationship and a Korean traditional rhythm utmori (“uneven”) based on the psychological data and the emotional line of the story.
Therefore, ‘ULW’ invites listeners on an ever-changing audio journey into the psyches of characters born out of the collective memory of people who had experienced positive or negative language.
More info: http://www.elsapjy.com/soundcinema-eng
