Sonic Psychogeography: Fall 2009

LinZhang*_documentation video 2

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:06:43 -0500

LinZhang*_documentation video 2

LInZhang*_documentation video 1

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 02:06:01 -0500

LInZhang*_documentation video 1

Final Project: Lin Zhang, "San Xuan Shui Cang” 三玄水苍

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:30:00 -0500

The graphic is about the interpretation of the concept of change in China: Value for dynamic. In this not completed work, the concept is “Variation of Chinese Landscape”. Variability means that evolution and destruction; Chinese landscape painting is not a simple image of the natural landscape and more profound meaning of the minds in ancient Chinese literati landscapes, they draw the picture is not entirely copied the nature it came out with their feelings in a natural landscape scenery, scenic mountains and rivers draw their own perceived landscape some of the mountains and rivers are the real of nature, some probably do not exist, they are completely fictitious…

Final Project: Dylan Nelson, Binarium

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:28:00 -0500

An installation which allows the participant to investigate secluded zones of mediated gender representation and offers an alternative zone to break down the dichotomy.

Sound mixed for left and right, stage lights, magazines and printed material.

Final Project: Patrick Nagle, Walking Is

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:25:00 -0500

Come take a walk with me! Grab the file, put it on an mp3 player, strap on your headphones and lace up your walking shoes.

(Those of you in the class, please download the walk & bring your mp3 players or headphones to class—it will make crit a lot easier.)

Final Project: Henry Kerins, Quiet Town

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:22:00 -0500

Quiet Town is an installation consisting of several mailboxes containing small speakers. Each speaker tells the story of a different recovering drug addict, in their own words and voices. The varying quality of mailboxes is meant to represent the wide variety of socioeconomic backgrounds affected by addiction.

From afar Quiet Tows sounds like a combination of muffled conversations. The circular array creates an imaginary space within its invisible borders, and the mailboxes are conspicuously out of place. All these elements combine to make a passerby curious and comfortable walking right into the center of the installation, which was important to me. The sonic environment is somewhat interesting just standing in the middle, but the main purpose of the installation is to walk up to each mailbox, open the door, and listen to the story projected from inside. The mailboxes work as natural amplifiers and standing in front of an open one makes it easy to hear the contained monologue clearly. What is interesting about this process is that it forces the participant to interact very closely with the work, but it is not invasive or threatening.

The speakers play on loop constantly, which is important for several reasons. For one it creates the nice ambience that one hears in the middle of the space. More importantly, it makes participants feel comfortable listening to any individual mailbox for as short or long as they like. Again, I wanted the audience to feel comfortable approaching the piece as they like, not pressured to listen from start to finish.

Final Project: Bevin Kelley

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:15:43 -0500

Final Project: Max Grey, Box for Two People to Lie In

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:54:00 -0500

In the final presentation of the box, I wanted to see how a change of environment and presentation would affect how this piece was perceived. By moving the box from a secluded outside location to a dark and isolated interior space, the box became less of an escape from the environment around the participants and more of an organized event. I led the participants up the stairs, to the box room, while instructing them in a whisper. I attempted to create an almost sacred mood around the box and the experience they were about to have. They followed my lead and whispered as well. The room was dark, except for one large beam of light that shone directly on the center of the box. In a hushed voice, I explained how to enter the box and how to control the iPod. “Enjoy,” I said, “And I’ll come and get you when it’s over.”

Final Project: Sebastian Gallese, First Beacon

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:47:00 -0500

Processing/Java, Internet Connection, Max/MSP, Arduino, LEDs, Projector, Desktop + Laptop

First Beacon sonifies a network space into a physical space. After one of my other professors, John Cayley of Literary Arts, created a “beacon” to broadcast numbers for use in various art projects, I became enraptured by the idea of a networked sound performance. First Beacon attempts to give this number, located in a virtual space, a specific presence in the real world, notifying the audience of the slight emanating from a different reality.

While we did not read about virtual space directly in class, one could characterize it as a non-perceptual space that evades human perception. Only through a variety of human interfaces can we listen to or hear data located outside of our own aural and visual fields. Most importantly, the virtual space is abstract, thus any attempt to bring this space into our perceptual sphere requires a series of transformations to alter data and translate it into our space.

As it is impossible to listen to a virtual space, it gave me great freedom to sonify it however I desired. As a network sound can come to life anywhere I can send an HTTP request, this allows me to feed sound to any space I desired. With these two considerations in mind, I was inspired by the small bleeps emitted by far-off interstellar satellites to command stations on Earth, high pitched frequencies seemingly coming from nowhere to report back a simple pulse of information. The four speakers of our music hall room also allowed for sound to travel in multiple dimensions, from separate locations but in unity, to provide an appropriate interpretation of the sound space of the everywhere but nowhere network.

Final Project: Will Epstein and Yeshimabeit Milner

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:42:00 -0500

These are video excerpts only; full documentation coming soon.

In the meantime, listen to two full performances:

Performance 1 (11'16")

Performance 2 (10'29")

Final Project: Mark Betzel, Mobile Aural Chronometer

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 17:14:00 -0500

MobileAuralChronometer is a sound walk taking the listener through their morning routine. The piece has different sections for recommended times for common activities. Feel free to e-mail me your place of residence and a time if you’re interested in a musical wake-up call. I will drop off the device at the allotted time and place and press play, at which point the piece will guide you through first a five minute snooze period, a brief period to gather your head (2 minutes 30 seconds) and then brushing your teeth (4 minutes) and taking a shower (6 minutes). These are the times recommended by the ADA for brushing your teeth and the EPA for showering. I will do my best to accommodate as many people as possible.

http://markspg.tumblr.com/

Final Project: Jordan Bartee, Mouth Piece

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 16:36:00 -0500

With Mouth Piece I wanted to place myself in a position of relative vulnerability and passivity. I was inspired largely by the avatar experiements done my Stelarc, in which he used electro-stimulation to give participants direct, remote control over his muscles. As artists we spend a lot of time trying to communicate ideas to an audience, and this relationship often seems disproportionate to me. This was an opportunity to completely reverse that relationship by literally allowing other people to dictate every word I said for an entire evening. My original intention was to become a vessel for all the secret, socially unacceptable utterances that people think but do not say.

Final Project: Ashley Aguilar: Vertical Stroll

Tue, 15 Dec 2009 15:48:00 -0500

Download this soundwalk at http://www.tinyurl/vertical stroll

Participants use headphones to take a tour up 14 flights of stairs at the SciLi. At each floor, new sounds comes out of the door. By the end of the tour, the sounds mix together into a “song” and then gradually dissapate as participants go downstairs.

Walking Is...

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:42:47 -0500

Walking Is...:

Come take a walk with me! Grab the file, put it on an mp3 player, strap on your headphones and lace up your walking shoes.

(Those of you in the class, please download the walk & bring your mp3 players or headphones to class–it will make crit a lot easier.)

Friday, Dec 12, 4-7pm: Sonic Psychogeography Show!

Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:10:00 -0500

Sound and Video Art Exhibition and Reception: "Sonic Psychogeography"
Friday Dec. 12, 2009: 4-7PM
Steinert Building (corner of Hope and Power Streets, Providence)
FREE FOOD AND DRINK

Please join MEME and the Brown Music Department for an exhibition of twelve graduate and undergraduate student works exploring sound, geography, and memory as part of the MEME course, “Sonic Psychogeography” taught by Betsey Biggs. Works will include sound and video installations, performance art, and a series of public sound walks.
“Sonic Psychogeography” features the work of Ashley Aguilar, Jordan Bartee, Mark Betzel, Will Epstein, Sebastian Gallese, Max Grey, Bevin Kelley, Henry Kerins, Yeshimabeit Milner, Patrick Nagle, Dylan Nelson, and Lin Zhang.

RSVP and invite others at the Facebook event page:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=196059803285&ref=mf

Final Project_“San Xuan Shui Cang" 三玄水苍 (in the...

Sun, 06 Dec 2009 03:47:00 -0500

multiple screens

model-1

water snapshot

tree snapshot

house snapshot

mountain snapshot

model-2

model-3

model-4

model-5

Final Project_“San Xuan Shui Cang" 三玄水苍 (in the process)

LinZhang

Project link:

http://www.zhanglinmedia.com/ExperimentalProjects_19.html

Photo

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 23:23:09 -0500

Bevin & Jordan enjoying themselves

How many people fit into an elevator?

Week 11, Public Projects: Dylan Nelson

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:16:00 -0500

Week 11, Public Projects: Yeshimabeit Milner

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:15:00 -0500

In Memory Of, Part 1 on Vimeo.

In Memory Of, Part 2 on Vimeo.

Week 11, Public Projects: Henry Kerins, "Quiet Town"

Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:15:00 -0500

From afar Quiet Town sounds like a combination of muffled conversations. The circular array creates an imaginary space within its invisible borders, and the mailboxes are conspicuously out of place. All these elements combine to make a passerby curious and comfortable walking right into the center of the installation, which was important to me. The sonic environment is somewhat interesting just standing in the middle, but the main purpose of the installation is to walk up to each mailbox, open the door, and listen to the story projected from inside. The mailboxes work as natural amplifiers and standing in front of an open one makes it easy to hear the contained monologue clearly. What is interesting about this process is that it forces the participant to interact very closely with the work, but it is not invasive or threatening. I think it’s important for interactivity to be part of this piece because it is very personal subject matter, but I didn’t want to make participants uncomfortable or apprehensive about being part of it.

My biggest problem with the execution of this piece is the lack of variety of voices. No two are alike; there is a quick-tongued rapper, a brash former drug dealer, a shameful slow-speaker, and a nervous stutterer. But there’s a lot of ground left to cover, most notably women. I could not find one female voice willing to be recorded. I also would have liked to have some older people, especially with children, but it is very difficult to get people to agree to discuss this topic into a microphone. For my final, adding some female voices and older voices is a must. The one other issue I had was the variety of mailboxes. They were all different, but not quite different enough. I plan to diversify them by getting some apartment style mailboxes that hang on the wall and posting them to trees.