Phosphorescent Devotion
instrumentation:
fixed media, written for the EMPAC High-Resolution Modular Loudspeaker Array for Wave Field Synthesis, 20 sources (audio holograms) distributed within 8-box array
(other multichannel and stereo versions available upon request)
Date composed:
July 16, 2021, New York, NY / Paris, France
Commissioner:
Commissioned by The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust.
Co-Presented by TIME:SPANS and The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Premiere:
August 11 - 16, 2021 | DiMenna Center for Classical Music
Program Note:
In a 2006 paper published by the MIT Press, Barry Blesser defines aural architecture as:
“that aspect of real and virtual spaces that produces an emotional, behavioral, and visceral response in inhabitants. A space can produce feelings of intimacy, anxiety, isolation, connectedness, warmth, as well as a mystical sense of spirituality. Such responses parallel those of visual architecture, except that the space is experienced by listening rather than seeing.”
Wave field synthesis offers us unique opportunity to create aural architectures using audio holograms that you can explore, physically, without relying on “the sweet spot” of many spatial audio systems. You can immerse yourself in an ephemeral, morphing, virtual architecture with the agency to sculpt your own experience and personal ritual.
My new work is loosely inspired by the light and color combinations of James Turrell. In this new exploratory sonic composition, I send out “regions” of synthesized tones. The visitor moves through the space, creating their own temporal envelopes as they travel through different “melodic” sequences. The positioning of the materials drift across the array and morph, mixing to create a more complex experience, both peaceful with synthetic gongs and nearly overwhelming as you are surrounded in the interior of synthetic arpeggiated bells. Cached between the regions of synthetic tones are snippets of acoustic memories – instruments, voices, field recordings – frozen in invisible space. You can stop to listen, or simply let them pass by as a whisper of something that you may recognize.
fixed media, written for the EMPAC High-Resolution Modular Loudspeaker Array for Wave Field Synthesis, 20 sources (audio holograms) distributed within 8-box array
(other multichannel and stereo versions available upon request)
Date composed:
July 16, 2021, New York, NY / Paris, France
Commissioner:
Commissioned by The Earle Brown Music Foundation Charitable Trust.
Co-Presented by TIME:SPANS and The Curtis R. Priem Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Premiere:
August 11 - 16, 2021 | DiMenna Center for Classical Music
Program Note:
In a 2006 paper published by the MIT Press, Barry Blesser defines aural architecture as:
“that aspect of real and virtual spaces that produces an emotional, behavioral, and visceral response in inhabitants. A space can produce feelings of intimacy, anxiety, isolation, connectedness, warmth, as well as a mystical sense of spirituality. Such responses parallel those of visual architecture, except that the space is experienced by listening rather than seeing.”
Wave field synthesis offers us unique opportunity to create aural architectures using audio holograms that you can explore, physically, without relying on “the sweet spot” of many spatial audio systems. You can immerse yourself in an ephemeral, morphing, virtual architecture with the agency to sculpt your own experience and personal ritual.
My new work is loosely inspired by the light and color combinations of James Turrell. In this new exploratory sonic composition, I send out “regions” of synthesized tones. The visitor moves through the space, creating their own temporal envelopes as they travel through different “melodic” sequences. The positioning of the materials drift across the array and morph, mixing to create a more complex experience, both peaceful with synthetic gongs and nearly overwhelming as you are surrounded in the interior of synthetic arpeggiated bells. Cached between the regions of synthetic tones are snippets of acoustic memories – instruments, voices, field recordings – frozen in invisible space. You can stop to listen, or simply let them pass by as a whisper of something that you may recognize.
Recording (stereo mix-down)
Documentary and Informational Video about the TIME:SPANS premiere, the participating artists, and the array. Filmed and created by Paul Moon and Bora Yoon.