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Audio Kinematics 

(2007) 

is an audio/video installation by Jost Muxfeldt and works with the phenomenology of sound and space, and how a listener is manifest in that space. Formally, it plays with the idea of kinematic relations on the level of sound.

Audio Kinematics utilizes the spatial relations and proportions of a mechanical structure to determine various parameters of a sound composition, and creates a kind of virtual kinetic sound sculpture.

The motions in the current realization are based on the principle of a mobile. This principle is base on a binary tree structure combined with circular motions. Since the motions of the individual nodes are always circular, they can over time be described with a series of sine waves added to each other . The motion of one node is thus described by the amplitude modulation of the sine wave of the parent node. Thus the motion is closely related to one of the most basic principles of audio synthesis.

 

The entire structure allows for a total sound experience in which the progression over time is determined on the one hand by the choice of the actual sound components, and on the other hand by the distance and motion of these components in relation to the listener. The listener is drawn into a relation to a sound environment whose shape and timbre changes over time by means of its specific spatial mechanics.The motion is simultaneously projected on a screen so that the listener can follow the mechanics of the sound visually as well.

 

Source: Jost Muxfeldt

 

 

Whether the sound is visualized or the speeding diagrams are set to sound is unimportant. It is a total art work which addresses both senses. One does not have to understand the explanations about sine waves, amplitude modulations, kinematics, or binary tree structures in order to enjoy this work. (Sebastian Preuss)

 

Source: Networked_Music_Review

 

 

Audio Kinematics, architecture, super collider, partitur, software, Installation

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)

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)

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SEE ALSO

Hans Richter (1888-1976) was a German painter, graphic artist, avant-gardist, film-experimenter and producer. He was born in Berlin into a well-to-do family and died in Minusio, near Locarno, Switzerland. (Wikipedia)

Notations 21 (2009) by Theresa Sauer features illustrated musical scores from more than 100 international composers, all of whom are making amazing breakthroughs in the art of notation. Notations 21 is a celebration of innovations in musical notation, employing an appreciative aesthetic for both the aural and visual beauty of these creations. The musical scores in this edition were created by composers whose creativity could not be confined by the staff and clef of traditional western notation, but whose musical language can communicate with the contemporary audience in a uniquely powerful way. (Notations 21 Project)

Bob Sabiston (*1967) is an American film art director, computer programmer, and creator of the Rotoshop software program for computer animation. (Wikipedia)

Zürich Chamber Orchestra ZKO: Rollercoaster (2008) by Euro RSCG Group Switzerland, Zürich and produced by Virtual Republic. Visualization of the 1st violin of the 2nd symphony, 4th movement by Ferdinand Ries in the shape of a rollercoaster. The camera starts by showing a close-up of the score, then focuses on the notes of the first violin turning the staves into the winding rail tracks of the rollercoaster. The notes and bars were exactly synchronised with the progression in the animation so that the typical movements of a rollercoaster ride match the dramatic composition of the music. (Virtual Republic on Vimeo)

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)