I have long had an interest in audio and visual connections, and how in the right context each medium informs the other. This process is taken advantage of in many different fields to create the appropriate emotional setting. In commercials, the product being presented is directly shaped by specific musical styles. It can be seen as ‘fun’ by having an upbeat light sound. In cathedrals, the subdued lighting in a massive space tries to imply the divine. The music generally associated features long unwavering tones that due to reverberation slowly decay, causing sounds to blend and appear in a sense timeless. ‘Insight on Sound’ is a project meant to explore these connections, to try and provide a setting that allows this process to be laid bare and explored.
We have the ability to take our senses and in combination make our experiences more then just the sum of their parts. Our perception becomes dependent upon the relation between senses. Reality becomes separated from itself, reinterpreted into a new experience unique for each individual. Perhaps a beautiful meadow becomes even more beautiful with the soft whistling of a breeze or a densely packed crowd in a market appears even more chaotic by the sound of bustling feet and multiple conversations. Are these senses influenced merely by the physical qualities of each? Do cultural norms play a role in their interpretation as well? Would an individual use to crowded markets see the bustling energy as having a calm order, the sounds of interaction in fact as calming as a light breeze in a meadow?
This piece will be an interactive experience, centered around a single dynamic setting to help explore these questions. The central piece of the view will not change, but by the users input the environment around the center will adjust, Within the environment, unique connections will be arranged between the audio and visual components, outlining different emotional extremes. How exactly the quality of these extremes manifest themselves will depend on who is using the piece. Sound has the fortunate quality of being one of our bodies more abstract senses. It is difficult to convey in writing the quality of a specific noise, or the beauty of a passage of music, The more abstract nature of sound will allow for a wide variety of responses. Visually, each emotional pole will hint at a story, but never explicitly. In the same way sound requires a conceptual gap to be filled, the partial story will require each users imagination. By providing a system that allows for great variability, where the experience is defined by what connections each user makes between the visual and auditory elements, my hope is to force each person to question why they are making such connections and in what way they allow such notions to influence their perception of reality.
1 comment:
hmm... I think that the link between audio and visual you've presented is a little bit vague! Like you mentioned, the audio-visual connection is so known and exploited in our culture that it's often even used to powerful effect in even the most vapid TV commercials, or just about anything.
Sound can enhance or define a physical space, like you mentioned... like the idea of reverberation, or echoes. Or it can be an alert to impending doom.
I guess what I was thinking was that--the audio-visual connection/integration is such a common experience that people take it for granted. People might just experience your piece as an audiovisual work, and not have their attention directed in any special way, specifically, at the connection between audio and visuals, or the nature of the connection.
I think that's true of music videos, for instance--where people may feel pleased at the tight integration of visuals and sound, but their attention usually isn't directed specifically at that connection that you're trying to illuminate.
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