unnamed soundsculpture 

(2012) 

by Daniel Franke and Cedric Kiefer is built upon the consideration of creating a moving sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person. It visualizes the musical piece Kreukeltape by Machinenfabriek.

The basic idea of the project is built upon the consideration of creating a moving sculpture from the recorded motion data of a real person. For our work we asked a dancer, Laura Keil, to visualize a musical piece (Kreukeltape by Machinenfabriek) as closely as possible by movements of her body. She was recorded by three depth cameras (Kinect), in which the intersection of the images was later put together to a three-dimensional volume (3d point cloud), so we were able to use the collected data throughout the further process. The three-dimensional image allowed us a completely free handling of the digital camera, without limitations of the perspective. The camera also reacts to the sound and supports the physical imitation of the musical piece by the performer. She moves to a noise field, where a simple modification of the random seed can consistently create new versions of the video, each offering a different composition of the recorded performance. The multi-dimensionality of the sound sculpture is already contained in every movement of the dancer, as the camera footage allows any imaginable perspective.

 

The body – constant and indefinite at the same time – 'bursts' the spacealready with its mere physicality, creating a first distinction between the selfand its environment. Only the body movements create a reference to the otherwise invisible space, much like the dots bounce on the ground to give ita physical dimension. Thus, the sound-dance constellation in the video doesnot only simulate a purely virtual space. The complex dynamics of the body movements is also strongly self-referential. With the complex quasi-static, inconsistent forms the body is 'painting', a new reality space emerges whose simulated aesthetics goes far beyond numerical codes.

 

Similar to painting, a single point appears to be still very abstract, but the more points are connected to each other, the more complex and concrete the image seems. The more perfect and complex the 'alternative worlds' we project (Vilém Flusser) and the closer together their point elements, the more tangible they become. A digital body, consisting of 22.000 points, thus seems so real that it comes to life again.

 

Nominated for the for the MuVi Award.

 

Source: Daniel Franke

 

 

By merging the footage from multiple cameras, the dance takes on an other worldly quality as one body contorts and rises while another slithers and falls in the same space. The empty black background emphasises the fluidity movements of the performance as it spills over the floor and the surrounding areas.

This meeting of technology, performance and art highlights how fast the creative industries are evolving thanks to new mediums. It's also, rather poignantly a testament to the free thinking of those operating in this amalgam of disciplines, to use a device designed to be used for video games, a rival in other words, to draw attention to it.

 

Source: Digital Theatre

 

 

unnamed soundsculpture, kugeln, people, dance, Video Clip

Reading

Grid Index (2009) by Carsten Nicolai is the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems. Based upon years of research, artist and musician Carsten Nicolai has discovered and unlocked the visual code for visual systems into a systematic equation of grids and patterns. The accompanying CD contains all of the grids and patterns featured in the publication from the simplest grids made up entirely of squares to the most complex irregular ones with infinitely unpredictable patterns of growth, as editable vector graphic data files. (Gestalten)

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)

 

SEE ALSO

Arthur Lipsett (1936-1986) was a Canadian avant-garde director of short collage films. Arthur Lipsett's meticulous editing and combination of audio and visual montage was both groundbreaking and influential. (Wikipedia)

Robin Fox is an artist straddling the often artificial divide between audible and visible arts. As an audio-visual performance artist his work has featured in festivals worldwide. Recent appearances include a commissioned performance for the Henie Onstad Kunstcenter, Oslo, Mois Multi Festival, Quebec City, Steirischer Herbst Festival, Graz, Musica Genera Festival, Warsaw and the Yokohama Triennale. (Robin Fox)

Beardbox (2009) is a deft, witty and involving videomusical self portrait by Gabriel Shalom. (Gabriel Shalom)

Rewind, Play, Fast Forward (2010) – The Past, Present and Future of the Music Video by Henry Keazor, Thorsten Wübbena (eds.) brings together different disciplines as well as journalists, museum curators and gallery owners in order to take a discussion of the past and present of the music video as an opportunity to reflect upon suited methodological approaches to this genre and to allow a glimpse into its future. (transcript Verlag)

Klaus Obermaier (*1955) is a media-artist, director/ choreographer and composer based in Vienna. His innovative works in the area of performing arts, music, theatre and new media, are highly acclaimed by critics and audience. He worked with dancers of the Nederlands Dans Theater, Chris Haring, Robert Tannion (DV8), Desireé Kongerød (S.O.A.P. Dance Theatre Frankfurt). He composed for ensembles like Kronos Quartet, German Chamber Philharmonics, Art Ensemble of Chicago, Balanescu Quartet, among others. (Klaus Obermaier)