Project Type: Electronics

Descent

Instrumentation: MacBook, iPhone, interactive/generative 8-channel electronics, and metallic resonator

Duration: Indefinite

Program Note:

Send Light, Room II is an interactive and generative audio-visual installation composed using Max. I created this work as a sequel to Send Light, Room I after reading Mark Z. Danielewski’s experimental horror novel House of Leaves. The piece is interactively performed using various gestural commands on an iPhone and by exploring the effects of proximity sensors between the MacBook and the iPhone. These interactions cue recitations of texts that meditate on the themes of House of Leaves – grief, loss, the experience of constructed spaces, resonance, love, labyrinths, madness, ecstatic experience, and the divine. The readings are then surrounded and punctuated by the ghostly howling of a perpetual wind, the metallic humming of a disembodied minotaur at the center of the installation’s “labyrinth,” and the angry red flickering of an unknown and dangerous light.

The work is intended to be experienced in a large, multi-level space in close to absolute darkness. The performer/listener may explore the space with the aid of a flashlight.

A Space for Comfort, Prayer, and Contemplation

Instrumentation: Generative 4-channel sound and accompanying real-time visualization

Duration: Indefinite

Program Note:

Send Light, Room I is a generative audio-visual work of indefinite length composed using Pure Data. I created this work during a time of crisis when I wanted to be able to share something like a “quilt or blanket of sound” with a loved one across geographic distances.

The work consists of gestures constructed out of recordings of a marimba and a vibraphone which transpose every 25 minutes and are randomized so as never to repeat. Over this sonic background is suspended a series of 40-odd readings by the composer of poems and prayers, with the readings progressing every 8 minutes.

The work is intended to be heard via a quadrophonic speaker array, enveloping the listener in a wash of bright, resonant sounds coming from every direction. It may also be experienced more intimately via headphones. The optimal space for listening is a room with dim, warm lighting or a space illuminated by candlelight.