original acuity
ns_gw
ns_b
vm_2a
vm_2c
vm_2e
vm_2j
tomatillo husks
audiovisions, 2003 - present, variable length loris, 2006, 16min living_room, 2006, 12min
6min, 14sec version
audiovisions is a collaborative performance environment--with Jonathan Zorn--for live video feed, reflective Mylar, lapel microphone, and electronic audio processing. A stationary camera positioned close to my body focuses its lens on ever-shifting, reflective distortions that undulate across the surface of the Mylar, held loosely in outstretched hands. With a small microphone clipped to the edge of the Mylar, the conscious movement or inadvertent trembling of my hands sets the Mylar in motion; the sound of each movement is picked up by the microphone and transformed through a series of audio filters and delays. The Mylar thus becomes an instrument, the activation of which provides both sound and image source. This piece explores the dynamics of collaboration, physical contingencies, and the shades/gradients of interdependence and independence within a system in which neither performer wields complete control.
* note: this piece contains very low frequencies and ideally should be heard on speakers with good bass response*
loris emerges out of an idiosyncratic, movement-based improvisational practice with the violin/viola. After struggling with issues of impromptu self-censorship during the throes of an improvisation, I enacted a conscious shift in intention, redirecting my efforts towards action, movement, and physical gesture. Rather than striving to achieve particular sonic results, I began to work with acoustic string sound in a more oblique manner, focusing intently on new patterns of physical interaction with the instrument, and only then shaping the resulting sound.
After attempting unsuccessfully to use video to highlight the gestural and visual dimension of this practice, by training a camera on various parts of my body, I decided to redirect the camera's gaze. Rather than looking in at my body from the external, distanced perspective of the audience, a micro security camera mounted to my finger peers out from the center of the action. The final video is slowed to a snail's pace, in part distancing the result from the original source material while bringing greater focus to the nature of the movement, with its contingent sound and image.
living_room is a portrait of an intimate domestic space--a tender reconsideration of its sights and sounds--as disclosed through a set of fragments, bound by formal constraints. A camera and directional microphone scan the room with two successive 360 degree pans, one low and one high; images occupy one of two stacked frames, and only occasionally the full screen. Edits are triggered by sonic events and the panned footage jumps between frames in accordance with irregularities or pops in the audio.
In an effort to extend the range of conventional camcorder techniques, I often work to exploit the latent creative potential of automated focus. In Living Room, I attempt to thwart the camera's programmed effort to arrive at a fixed focal length, and through the resulting quivering, bring previously static objects to life.