LSP - alveole 14 

(2007) 

by Edwin van der Heide is a research trajectory exploring compositional relationships between sound, space, light and color.

Lissajous figures form the starting point for the developed relations between sound and visual shape. By combining laser light and fog it becomes possible to project in space, instead of on a surface. The result is an environment where the audience is standing inside the work. It's a true sensory experience in which it's difficult to make a separation between the experience of the work and the work itself. The work LSP - alveole 14 is one of the results from the LSP research trajectory.

 

Source: Edwin van der Heide on Vimeo

 

 

LSP is a research trajectory exploring the relationship between sound and three dimensional image by means of laser projection. In 1815 Nathaniel Bowditch described a way to produce visual patterns by using a sine wave for the horizontal movement of a point and another sine wave for the vertical movement of that point. The shape of the patterns depends on the frequency and phase relationship of the sine waves. The patterns are known as Lissajous figures, or Bowditch curves.

 

LSP interprets Bowditch's work as a possible starting point to develop relationships between sound and image. Since sine waves can also be used to produce pure (audible) tones, it is possible to construct a direct relationship between sound and image. Frequency ratios in sound, de-tuning and phase shifts can have a direct visual counterpart.

 

Although theoretically all sounds can be seen as sums of multiple sine waves, music in general is often too complex to result in interesting visual patterns. The research of LSP focuses on the subject of composing signals that have both a structural musical quality and a time-based structural visual quality. Different relationships between sound and image are used throughout both the performance and the installation form.

 

By combining audio with visuals the spatial perception of sound is often being reduced because of the two-dimensional nature of the image versus the three-dimensional nature of sound. With laser(s), it is possible to create three-dimensional changing environments that surround the audience. Here, the image is generated by projecting a laser on a thin layer of smoke or fog. Image and sound originate from the same real-time generated source in the computer. This results in a performance where image and sound play equally important roles. The environment challenges the audience to change their perspective continuously. 

 

Source: Edwin van der Heide's website

 

 

LSP - alveole 14, architecture, flicker / strobe, laser, Installation

Reading

Notation. Calculation and Form in the Arts (2008) is a comprehensive catalogue (in German) edited by Dieter Appelt, Hubertus von Amelunxen and Peter Weibel which accompanied an exhibition of the same name at the Academy of the Arts, Berlin and the ZKM | Karlsruhe. (ZKM)

Digital Harmony (1980): On the Complementarity of Music and Visual Art – John Whitney, Sr. wanted to create a dialog between "the voices of light and tone." All of his early experiments in film and the development of sound techniques lead toward this end. He felt that music was an integral part of the visual experience; the combination had a long history in man's primitive development and was part of the essence of life. His theories On the complementarity of Music and Visual Art were explained in his book, Digital Harmony, published by McGraw-Hill in 1980. (Paradise 2012)

 

SEE ALSO

Yantra (1950-1958) by James Whitney constructed by punching grid patterns in 5" x 7" cards with a pin, and then painting through these pinholes onto other 5" x 7" cards images of rich complexity and dynamism. Yantra is a Sanskrit word meaning implement or machine. (...) This range of quasi-musical variations of implosions and explosions, light and dark, hard-edged pure textures and thick, irregular, hand-wrought solarized textures induces a contemplation of the self and reality, identity and universality. (William Moritz)

Rosa Menkman (1983) is a Dutch visualist who focuses on visual artifacts created by accidents in digital media. The visuals she makes are the result of glitches, compressions, feedback and other forms of noise. By combining both her practical as well as her academic background, Rosa Menkman merges her abstract pieces within a grand theory artifacts (a glitch studies). Besides the creation of a formal Vernacular of File Formats, within her static work, she also creates (narrative) work in her Acousmatic Videoscapes. In these Videoscapes she strives for new forms of conceptual synthesis (synesthesia) of sound and video artifacts. (Rosa Menkman's blog)

Mark Fell has been one of the leading innovators in the fields of experimental electronic music and sound art. Combining interests in experimental music, contemporary art, computer technology and philosophy, his work has been performed and exhibited internationally to wide critical acclaim. Mark Fell is one half of snd. (Mark Fell)

Expanded Cinema (1970) - In a brilliant and far-ranging study, Gene Youngblood traces the evolution of cinematic language to the end of fiction, drama, and realism. New technological extensions of the medium have become necessary. Thus he concentrates on the advanced image-making technologies of computer films, television experiments, laser movies, and multiple-projection environments. Outstanding works in each field are analyzed in detail. Methods of production are meticulously described, including interviews with artists and technologists. (John Coulthart)

Robert Seidel (*1977) is an experimental filmmaker and projection artist based in Germany. He began studying biology, but went on to gain a media-design diploma from the Bauhaus University Weimar. His films have been shown in art museums as well as at more than 250 festivals (Prix Ars Electronica, onedotzero, Dotmov, etc.), and honoured with prizes such as an Honorary Award at the KunstFilmBiennale and the prize for Best Experimental Film at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. (IdN)