Die Wolke #5

Sound and code development

Δtopia is moving towards a three-part direction, following the review of the interview material. Not necessarily in order, these are centered around the following themes:

1. “Memory is inaccurate”, as also explained in our last blog. This piece has been fleshed out substantially since then. Firstly, there is a 5-minute ambient composition that is based around repetition of phrases that are written at different time signatures, meant to evoke the sense of distance and blurriness. Secondly, abstracts from the interviews of D. Papageorgiou, D. Dalezis, and M. Louvari have been edited into a 5-minute voiceover, while processed in a way that makes them sound old and degraded, after many simulated generations of analogue copying. Thirdly, a program has been written that sets up the voiceover track to play back via a variable speed granular engine and takes information from the wearable sensor system to alter the scanning speed, as well as trigger ghost, distant repetitions of certain phrases, as a response to motion. This part is approaching the point where it can become performable.
2. “Time and space”. This is based on an image from Harry Elektron’s interview, in particular his response to the question about “distance”. A composition of small impact sounds exists on the limit of periodicity, often reaching into unstable, disordered stochastics, like an arrangement of appearing and disappearing “dots” of sorts. Abstracts from the Elektron and Tzortzi interviews have been heavily processed into stem tracks. In turn, sensor data will tie these to the dancer’s movement, via the acceleration readings. The fixed parts of the composition are nearly ready, whereas the code is in development.
3. “Creativity”. This part is yet to be developed. The core idea is how the various interpretations of place and displacement result in creative choices.

The piece as a whole is otherwise progressing very well. Within the next couple of weeks the compositions, choreography, and programming should be complete, and the rehearsals will move towards putting it all together. The links below are for the fifth interview, as well as a short sample of the background compositions – i.e. without the voice elements that are generated and modulated by the interactive system, as these can only be captured “live”. In future posts we will demonstrate how all these elements combine towards the final performance, both in terms of method and technique, as well as the result on stage.

 

Background music sample

 

Maria Louvari interview