De(con)structing Disco
Current Info
Check here for day-to-day progress updates.
Steve Wilson -- Electronic Music (blog)
Keith Blanding - Lighting (blog)
Tyler Williams - Sensing (blog)
Official Project Description:
Steve, Keith, and Tyler are collaborating to build an interactive visual/aural environment as well as a live performance show. "Deconstructing Disco" will exist in two forms: a live performance by the artists during the Final Friday show, and a fully automated interactive environment during the subsequent gallery showings.
The Concept
The central idea at work is the mixture of "high" art and "low" art. Where a traditional modernist position focuses exclusively on high art, a postmodern position is open to the use of so-called low art techniques. The term "disco" is being used to refer to a dance club environment and should not be confused with 70s disco music such as "YMCA" and other classics. A dance club is certainly out of place in an art gallery as it is a form of popular entertainment. By contrast, experimental sound design is right at home in a gallery setting. What happens when we combine them?
The dialectical tension between high and low art often achieves explosive results as is the case with the music of John Zorn or the cinema of Tarantino. While the issue is not unique to the postmodern era [William Grant Still's "Afro-American Symphony" (1930) predates postmodernism by at least 30 years], postmodern philosophy takes a keen interest in the topic. The elitist high art community is a hegemony in need of examination with a very critical eye. Although Still used "blue notes" borrowed from the low art of jazz to great effect more than seventy years ago, this remains a highly controversial technique.
Deconstruction comes into play as we question the binary opposition of high art and low art. The institution of high art obviously defines itself in opposition to low art, while keeping it in a subordinate, inferior position. We are questioning this hierarchical value system as it doesn't necessarily represent the authoritative position that it would have us believe it represents. Prior to the postmodern era, the ancient standard of quality, as determined by a select group of individuals, maintained a separation that, while effective in filtering commercial and other non-artistic products, also kept certain legitimate art forms from receiving recognition.
Electronic music is one such art form. Though it has roots in the popular dance club traditions of the late 20th century, this says nothing about the artistic validity of contemporary electronic composers working today. With this project, we are showing that although there may be superficial differences between what is commonly accepted as electronic art music and what is widely considered commercial electronic music, they are, in essence, very similar and thus both deserving of artistic recognition and criticism.
The Execution
The plan for our project breaks down into three sections: music, lighting and sensing.
Music
Steve is composing original music. Some will be in a definite electronic dance music style similar to Techno, IDM (Intelligent Dance Music), and Drum 'n Bass; some will be of an experimental sound design nature consistent with what is typically considered electronic art music; and finally, some will be a synthesis of these two styles freely combining elements from each.
Steve is using a variety of software tools for this composition including commercial software (Native Instruments Reaktor, Pro-53, and Absynth 4), and Pd. Most of the sound generation will come from Reaktor. Pd will be used to create a custom sampler and effects processor for both the live performance and the automated performance. The Pd patch will tie all the musical elements together and will translate sensor input to control various parameters.
Lighting
Since lighting and music is already an established tradition, we will not explain it further at this time. The lighting design will follow concepts explored by the music with the lighting consisting of a conventional dance club light show; a more experimental, artistic use of light; and an synthesis of the two techniques.
The lighting, as with the music, will be controlled by sensors placed around the performance space.
April 9th - there will be three light sensors, set up in a triangle around a central light stand with a bulb on top...the sensors will trigger strobe lights, laser machine, and a disco light (but not all the time!!) right now we are working on getting ultrasound sensors working too, and getting things to hook them up to..
Sensing
We are exploring the use of light, infrared, and ultrasound sensors. The performance space will be divided into a number of segments and as spectators walk through the space, changes in audio and light will follow. The spectator will not be aware of the effect their presence has on the installation other than the fact that it is changing as their position changes. Sensors will not be continually receiving input and will thus be unpredictable to spectators. For instance, walking to the rear left corner will not always have the same effect.
Spatial sensing is difficult with a high volume of people present and will be more effective with a limited number of spectators present at any given time. Because of this, and because we are interested in live performance, the Final Friday show will be a live performance rather than an automated experience and thus will not use the sensor input. This doesn't change our message and concept in any way. It is simply a different delivery method. Live performance only might even be preferable, but since the exhibit will remain up for some time, it isn't practical to have an artist doing constant performances.
More on the Music
I feel strongly about the artistic validity of what I call contemporary electronic music (CEM). I argue that artists such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher, and Pan Sonic are composing music that is as artistically valid as anything that has come before it. I'm not arguing that they're writing on the level of Beethoven or Bartok, but they have a new voice and it's worth listening to what they have to say.
I'm presenting "dance" music as low art in this project only because CEM hasn't gained wide recognition as an artistic movement at this time. It stylistically contrasts with the academic form of electronic music, but their roots are both in the music of Varese, Schaefer, Stockhausen, and Babbitt. In this way, I'm bringing them together and helping audiences to realize that they are not incommensurable.
My music borrows from the both the academic and popular traditions, although for the purposes of this exhibit, I am making a more obvious distinction before combining them back together in the final dialectical synthesis.
If you're interested in this, I have a large paper on the aesthetics and importance of contemporary electronic music. You can read it here.
Samples
Here are some of the sounds and ideas Steve is working with. All sounds are original - no factory loops, no sample CDs. To hear more of Steve's original music check this out: Liquid Sunshine
These are three live jams in the style of what I'm doing Friday night. They're pretty experimental and the recording quality is not great because I'm using an M-Audio Microtrack. The unit is decent, but it's not very flexible. There is distortion at times. I need to work on a better recording solution for the gig.
Example Tune D - This is a more uptempo number. It sounds a lot like "Stress" by Thomas Bangalter (of Daft Punk) from the Irreversible soundtrack thanks to a chromatic sequence that pretty much runs thoughout. Near the end, I'm using an ascending scale that's derived from Bartok's favored 1+3 scale, although midway it shifts into a 1+2 scale. Finally, that pattern is transposed at the tritone with a 16th note displacement. The melodic lines at the beginning and end are a hexachordally combinatorial set that I hope to develop more in the performance.
Example Tune C - This is a live, real-time jam using a collection of Reaktor instruments that I programmed and assembled. It's dark and ambient. This is maybe typical of stuff you might hear during the show, only I'll be better at making the stuff live by next week. It's fairly difficult to maintain control over four or five instruments and up to eight samples.
These are my performance notes. Follow this and you can realize my composition, provided I explain what the codes mean.
'''Song 4''' R:SongD.ens MID1:Equi4 MID2:082Saw K:PR1 AFX:84 IN:6 MIX:6 OUT:6
Example Tune B - This is a very low art number. It's literally two bars worth of music made into a four minute song. Each sample is a two-bar loop. These loops can be combined in any fashion to produce something that sounds good. Pd will trigger bits of this to mix in with some more complicated "high art" stuff.
Example Tune A - This is an example of a piece we could use for live performance. It's a very simple framework that can support a lot of extention, development, and improvisation. It's modal and modular, so the engineers can rest easy - it's impossible to combine things in the wrong way. If I want to take things out a bit, I have that freedom as well.
Sample Groove - 130 Beats Per Minute
Software
This is some of my Pd code. It's in progress, but it's stable enough to play around with if anyone is interested.
My Pd Sampler - This is very basic at this point. It has seven tables that store five-second audio clips with independent gain adjustment.
More on the Lighting
NEW!! 4/14 working sensor code
ABOVE CODE UPDATED 4/19 - now with six sensors
My lighting page (mainly for pictures)
Keith Blanding (Lights/Effects) - as of now (April 2nd) I have three relays hooked up on a breadboard that are running a strobe light, turning disco ball w/ lights, and a laser machine...I can turn these items on/off using clearbit/setbit at anytime we need them to (on and off w/ the music, perhaps??) these items plus a couple others I am thinking about will give our project the effect of a full-fledged concert!!!
The music will be spontaneous in nature. There will be some things to latch onto (beats per minute, general atmosphere, etc.), but other elements will be improvisatory and possibly open to spectator interation. I'll post info when I know some basic structural elements.
More on the Sensing
info goes here
Our project is a live music/video/lighting performance. We need a visual artist to do video work. We also need another engineer to work on a creative audio interface using a variety of sensors. Please join us!! Email the class mailing list for more info: WSU-Tech-Art-and-Snd@googlegroups.com