VART3490 - Installation Art :: Final Installation

 

Today I performed the work at RMIT in building 37. The work was performed via Ableton Live through my Presonus Firebox soundcard with 6 outputs routed discretely to 4 speakers placed in each corner of the room and the subwoofer placed in the centre.

I placed the CRT monitors upon tripod stands used for ceramics, which added an industrial aesthetic I found pleasing. I performed the work for 10 minutes in the darkened room, using only the sounds and lighting from the CRT monitors to fill the space. I was able to pan the audio through the quadrophonic array to create spatial effects, moving the audio sourced from the ducts along from front left to back right via front right - directly representational of the airflow movement within the ducts of the site.

I used the electromagnetic recordings sourced from the computers primarilly on the front left and right speakers, also congruent to their sourced locations from the site. I used the lower frequency capture from the duct recordings to generate the sub tone, which was in turn routed to the right CRT monitor, creating horiztontal agreen bands that would cycle at its lower frequency rate, these bands moving slowly upward in time with the droning sub. During the performance I sent this channel more frequencies from the electromagnetic capture of low frequency tones I sourced from the lighting and power boards. This low hum modulated the frequencies from the duct, allowing me to adjust the pulsing rhythm of the sub tone and the bands of the right CRT monitor, generating purple and green lines with pulsing widths.

The left CRT displayed the higher frequencies from the left and right channels, creating a more chaotic pattern of horizontal red and blue bands that increased and decreased in width in congruence with the dense array of frequency bands it was receiving.

Performance setup in Ableton Live

Reflection: 

The response from the group was entirely positive, each being able to discern the sounds used as being captured from the space and presented in this context. Spatially and visually everyone was absorbed and engaged by the installation. There was an agreement that effect of the the multichannel array and the presentation of light via the CRT monitors was sucessful at creating immersion, which was the intention of the installation.

If I were to extend this work, I would remove the performative aspect from this and compose a looping sound work to present. Though the criteria of the assessment mentioned "performing the work" I feel that my presence in the installation conducting the performance was distracting for the audience and myself, and not entirely necessary to articulate the piece.