Artist Instrument Visual Score Performance

For my performance I was given a score at the last minute due to the fact my partner was absent. The professor (which is you Clint since you will likely be the only one to read this), gave me a score from his book. The score worked very well for my instrument due to the fact I could make crackling and screeching noises the jagged lines of the score represented. The score looked a little like TV static and I tried to replicate some of those sounds. I also read the composition as different patterns and tried to use different techniques on my instrument to create sonic representations of them. I chose to read the score from left to right, with the simpler part and the beginning and then the more chaotic section at the end.

2D Visual Score

The visual score I created for my partner was centered on the fact that his instrument was predetermined to play a certain "song" since it was a computer program. His instrument was as simple as hitting enter on his laptop, which is why I included the word enter in the design. I added the words "you are not a computer" in hopes that he could try to find a way to play his instrument live rather than have the composition predetermined.

I printed the design I made on a broken printer to give the pattern, as well as to symbolize the lack of reliability in technology. I also used mostly negative space in the design as a reaction to the fact that my partners instrument was nearly silent.

It was interesting to hear my composition played because it wasn't performed by my partner, but instead by my professor on another student"s instrument. He interpreted design elements as musical notation rather than simply as text, which was never my intention with my original partner. It was interesting to see the contrast of how I imagined it would be played and the final composition,

Artist Instrument

For my artist instrument I created an instrument that functioned on the principles of a guitar but didn't have any strings. It relied on amplified feedback loops to create sound. I used a guitar pickup and a headphone speaker as a pickup as well, a switch between these pickups allowed me to manipulate the feedback osculation between two sounds, as well as affecting these sounds by moving the plank in different ways.
Since I am a musician I was encouraged to create an instrument that wasn't necessarily musical. The end result was a sound that is usually shied away from in music, feedback. The loud screeching noise produced by my instrument is far from pleasing, but interesting to me nonetheless. I don't think I could ever play the same thing on it twice, which is a strange concept to me.

Project 7: A Digital You

In the polygonal mess that is Second Life this was my attempt to create an avatar that resembled myself, physically with the regular outfit and artistically with the fantasy outfit. After spending hours with the sliders and looking back and forth at pictures of myself for reference, I finally gave up on making it look like me. I stuck a Lamb of God shirt on him to make it have some resemblance to me, but other than the clothes it was a lost cause. Anyway, my fantasy self, Con-Tron, was sort of thrown together with pieces of a terminator and Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse. He's a cybernetic guitarist and the only thing he loves more than dismembering John Connor is playing tasty Jams. The fantasy avatar isn't representative of my personality, but is really more of a version of me that can only exist in the virtual realm, where the laws of reality don't apply.

Project 6: Digital Modeling

For project 6 I had no idea what to model so I just picked a few random things that were lying around my room. The items are headphones, a CD case, a guitar pedal, and my iPhone. All of these items are music related and as such have some importance to me. The significance of the items I used are the headphones remind me of jamming and recording in the garage in high school. The pedal was the first one I ever bought and If you're a guitar player you know that an overdrive is the "solo" pedal. The CD is Deafheaven's Sunbather which in my opinion is the best album of 2013, and I modeled the phone pretty much only because it was in front of me.

For my single object, I modeled an amplifier tube. They are basically what makes guitar amps sound louder and fuller. I thought the shape was interesting and didn't necessarily choose it for any sentimental value. This item was much harder to model than any of the objects in the collage since most of the detail is inside of the object.

Digital Nation Response Questions

!. In the film, programs like Second Life are trying to replicate real life in a digital form. If these programs become indistinguishable from reality will they become boring? Furthermore, is it even worth it to create something that only replicates something that already exists?
 2. One school in the film had begun using computer games in every class in hopes of engaging the students. They had replaced most of the books with educational computer games and it had improved grades and attendance. Is the knowledge attained from a digital education fueled by entertainment, as valuable as traditional education based in curiosity?

Project 4: Art Video Emulation

For my project I attempted to emulate Takashi Ito's "Ghost". I think I captured his technique and a bit of the overall vibe, but I think his film is much more interesting. I just couldn't get the lights to do what I wanted. I filmed the whole thing stop motion, which I really don't have the patience for. My whole video turned out really dark and its hard to tell what's going on but that kind of contributes to the nightmare vibe. I wasn't trying to make it creepy, stop motion will make just about anything creepy anyways, so I focused on Ito's technique.
As to the meaning, my favorite part (sarcasm), I think it has some think to do with electronics and media causing sleep deprivation.   You get sucked into movies, TV, and video games and before you know it, it's 4 in the morning. Ito also stated his film was conceptulized while he was getting 2 hours of sleep a night. Furthermore, the media has control over us, keeping us awake. It's constantly assaulting us with information, and we are unable to look away.



Here's the original:









Here's Mine: