Re: [-empyre-] live performance vs. studio/other

["Patrick Lichty" <voyd@voyd.com>]

> >6
> >The question I'd like to as is *why* many audio-artists feel the need to
> >work with visuals.

I'm really quite sorry that I haven't been more active on this thread, as it
is one that I'm hightly interested in...

But on this one, I'd like to chip in a response.

1: I'm not an artist in any media, but as my blindness has progressed over
the years, people have remarked on my increasing attention to sound.  I find
this interesting, as I often feel my attention turning to touch and smell.

2: example of the primacy of the visual-
SInce '96, I've done architectural responsive soundspaces
(http://www.voyd.com/hrvat) based on generative sound models driven by user
interactions.
At the Walker Art Center installation in 97(I think), I was running the
piece in a particular shrieking mode, (which was wonderful as it was in a
big rotunda, and above the electroacoustic show on the levels below a clang
or peal would rip out over the crowd, which I woudl hear 3-4 levels up,
giving me a real sense of satisfaction.  (I can elaborate on this seeming
sadism, which really wasn't the case, it was more like fighting over the
din)

Anyway, the interface was malfunctioning badly, and I had to reset the
software, meaning I had to do the worst thing possible - turn on the
monitor.  Once I did, it was like giving moths a bonfire.  Everyone wanted
to see the responses from the sensor grid and the generative composition,
which really was a terrible mess to look at, by the way.  However, it seemed
that people were bent on trying to get the color organ to do something.

Therefore, I started hooking responsive video to the GRID, avoiding
deterministic response maps, as I hate doing direct mapping - drives me
crazy. However, once I did, the installation became immersive, which
actually became better, despite the increased equipment requirements.

More or less, I went AV to better engage my audience (and to reiterate my
earlier writing on multimodal communication [Epstein/Lichty, 1994]).  It
also gives me more flexibility in regards to narrative, etc.  More or less,
it offers more possibilities/flexibility for experimentation with the cog
sci aspect of the installation, and that's pretty substantial.