On Saturday, October 24, Wendy and I demonstrated some of the elements of the “Overheard” installation to a small group in order to articulate our current ideas and obtain feedback.

We demonstrated typographic projections, sound elements (recorded conversations), and physical interaction with typography using the rope&pulley.

We are reflecting on the observations we made during demonstration and are incorporating them into the next phase of development.

The Digital Performance Institute lent us two video projectors for the demonstration.

Michael working on Rope&Pulley, etc, etc, etc!

For the past month I’ve been working on a hand-cranked beat sequencer.  This device grew out of a bunch of ideas I’ve had while working on my residency at DPI.

In short, the sequencer consists of two large, concentrically-mounted wooden wheels.  One of the wheels rotates on an axle and the other which has sixteen sliding levers attached to its face remains stationary.  As the front wheel rotates, a switch mounted on its back is depressed by levers on the back wheel which have been pushed toward the wheel’s center.  Each time the rotating switch strikes a lever, a sample is triggered on the attached computer.  It is possible to play repeating sequences of samples by rotating the wheel at a constant rate.

The following video shows the operation of an early cardboard prototype:
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One of the motions I’ve been trying to represent physically is the selection of a region of audio. There are any number of screen-based ways to do this, but I wanted to create something mechanical that could do this.

I’ve been thinking about machines: machines that perform and people who perform with machines.  These are some visual references that I’ve found interesting in considering this subject matter.

This idea came out of a discussion Shlomit and I were having last Friday evening about whether I was making a performance or an installation.  She pointed out that I really needed to consider the performance from the audience’s perspective, so I considered flipping the whole thing around — facing the audience through a sheet of glass rather than standing with my back to them.  During the performance, I could scratch at the back of a sheet of glass covered with black paint. The drawing tool would continue to generate some sort of audio.  This performance concerns perception and revelation. As I scratch away paint to reveal the audience and the space which I cannot see at the beginning of the performance.  If I trace the outlines I see, I will also be rendering a mirror of the audience and simultaneously revealing my image through the scratch marks.

I created this mockup so I could see what it looked like at full size from the audience perspective.