Visual Music Archive

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Ström 

(2008) 

by Mattias Petersson (music) and Fredrik Olofsson (video) is, in its full version, a 45-minute minimalistic piece for five loudspeakers, live-electronics and live-video, based on an open-minded, artistic approach towards electricity.

Ström by Mattias Petersson (music) and Fredrik Olofsson (video) is, in its full version, a 45-minute minimalistic piece for five loudspeakers, live-electronics and live-video, based on an open-minded, artistic approach towards electricity. The piece is an attempt to transfer electric currents via sound to the audience. The five speakers in the surround system struggles to take over the sonic stream like electro-magnets. Sine waves and noise rotates with breakneck speeds around the listeners, tries to charge them with static electricity and, as an ultimate goal, even make them levitate.

The video part is in direct connection with the sound and is generated out of five discrete lines – one for each channel in the surround system. The lines are treated in different ways, and as the high voltage builds up in the music they look more and more like electric wires, inflicting each other with violent discharges and eruptions.

 

DVD released on Fylkingen Records in 2008.

 

Source: Mattias Petersson

 

 

Ström, super collider, stripes, Video Clip, Code

Reading

Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses (2002) by Richard E. Cytowic disposes of earlier criticisms that the phenomenon cannot be real, demonstrating that it is indeed brain-based. Following a historical introduction, Cytowic lays out the phenomenology of synesthesia in detail and gives criteria for clinical diagnosis and an objective test of genuineness. (MIT Press)

Sons et Lumières (2004) – A History of Sound in the Art of the 20th Century (in French) by Marcella Lista and Sophie Duplaix published by the Centre Pompidou for the excellent Paris exhibition in September 2004 until January 2005.


Curated by the Pompidou’s Sophie Duplaix with the Louvre’s Marcella Lista, the show required a good three or four hours to absorb, with its bombardment of sensory and intellectual input, including painting, sound sculpture, sound/light automata, film and video, and room-size installations. (Frieze Magazine)

Links

 

SEE ALSO

Spectral Strands/ Saariaho: Vent nocturne (2010) by Garth Knox performing viola (at times with electronic treatments) and Brian O'Reilly manipulating real time visualizations. The moving images use source materials based on extreme close up footage Brian O'Reilly shot of Garth performing on the viola, then processed using Tom Demeyer's ImX software, with further editing and transformations using FCP to create the fixed form presented here. The music Vent nocturne for viola and electronics was composed by Kaija Saariaho for the project and is dedicated to Garth. (Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo)

Ryoji Ikeda (*1966) is one of Japan's leading electronic composers and focuses on the minutiae of ultrasonics, frequencies and the essential characteristics of sound itself. His work exploits sound's physical property, its causality with human perception and mathematical dianoia as music, time and space. Using computer and digital technology to the utmost limit, Ryoji Ikeda has been developing particular microscopic methods for sound engineering and composition. (Ryoji Ikeda)

Brian O'Reilly is the creator of various works for moving images, electronic/noise music, mixed media collage, installation, and is a contrabassist, focusing on the integration of electronic treatments and extended playing techniques. (Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo)

Memo Akten (1975) is a visual artist, musician and engineer working at the intersection of art and technology. With a focus on creating emotional and memorable experiences, his work ranges from live music/dance/theatre performances, large-scale immersive interactive installations, music videos; to online works and mobile applications. He has given talks and workshops around the world and is currently on the selection committee of Siggraph. (Mehmet Akten)

Michael Fakesch: Don't stop (2007) by Tina Frank was created as part of Michael Fakesch's (ex Funkstörung) project Vidos, a video anthology inspired by his latest album Dos. Don't stop shows non-stop rotations and movements, a simple translation of the title. While the music's speed changes from slow to fast like chewing gum so does the image. (Tina Frank)