Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A bit of Sound for an old lady


So as a single parent with a full time job, delusions of Art Grandeur and a stomach bug I headed off the the Sound Walk in Long Beach.
Did I have a partner to go with - NOT!
Did I have a friend to go with - NOT!
Was I disappointed to be by myself - NOT!
Thank god there was access to a toilet.
I have been several times - even crashed it with my own art work - Portable projections
http://www.awillcocks.com/PP/PP.html and enjoyed it every time.
Firstly, my favorite experience was an interactive piece in a small shop sandwiched next to the Hyperpollution exhibit. As the participator you could place a 3D card board cut-outs of parts of a city that are to be placed on a lit table. An image is on the bottom of the cut-out, so a computer can track the position and speed of the object. As it is moving data is collected then converted into sound. BUT it was made in collaboration with high school music students - Yup no vast mind expanding, highly educated, arrogant Computation Wizzard or Engineer - simply a fantastic music teacher and his students.
Better still he was willing to share all his programming knowledge with a smile!! What a delight!!
Better still I understood what he was saying???
His sources - reacTIvision, OSCulator, source forge..... I think.

Isn't it funny how some of the best things are very simple:
A regular tape recorder was stuck on a wall at the back of a cafe and was relaying the sound of someone writing a love letter ... scratch scratch scratch...

So I didn't meet my match of the night but I did figure something out - If I see another Hawaiian shirted man, slightly balding, with a pregnant, distended belly, shorts and perhaps socks, I think I will puke!..... AGAIN.......