Dave Young Description

A DESCRIPTION

RADIUS MUSIC 2.0

Radius Music is an interactive audio/visual installation. Walking into a dark space, you can see an abstract visualisation projected onto a platform [just over 1m^2] that is slightly raised up from the floor. The visualisation on the platform consists of white dots (pixels) [many more being added every second], around a centrepoint at seemingly unpredictable yet ordered radii. From the centrepoint of the platform there is a steel pole, less than one meter high, topped with a small rectangular platform only about 10cm across by 20cm long. The platform on the pole is made from transparent plastic, and is lit from the inside by a white light. A circuit board - and a motor connected to a revolving sensor by a pair of cogwheels - sits on top of the plastic platform. The sensor measures the distance between itself and any solid object it points at, so as it turns, it is measuring the positions of objects and people in the space. There is a relationship between this revolving sensor and the circular visualisation on the lower platform - the distance measured and the location of the pixel drawn is relative. In accompaniment to the circular visualisation projected onto the platform, there is also a prominent sonic output again controlled by the sensor: warbling sine waves producing a droning, repetitive sound characteristic of early electronic music experiments.

Radius Music was developed with the use of open-source hardware and software, and as a result all the sourcecode was released under a CC-BY-SA license. The interface between the sensor and the computer was created using an Arduino - a small microcontroller that can read analog values from the distance sensor and also power the motor. Other components used in the arduino setup include a "slip-ring", which allows a continuous high-resolution electrical current to pass from a rotating assembly to a static terminal with minimum noise (in this case a signal had to be sent from the sensor to the arduino without the cables becoming twisted as it revolved). The values from the distance sensor are sent via usb to custom software that handles the audio and visual output. Processing deals with the visuals, controlling and rendering the "graphic score" in realtime, while Pure Data is used to control the waveforms emitted from the speaker system.

The idea for the installation arose out of research into the major shifts in composition that occurred in the mid 20th century. Heavily influenced by dadaist/fluxus aleatory systems, eastern philosophy, cybernetics and the intense developments in computer technologies, alternative compositional styles were explored - alongside new languages that could represent them. Composers such as John Cage started to experiment with graphic scores that allowed for interpretation on the part of the performer, alternative rhythmic and timing systems, and an expanded musical vocabulary that included everyday sounds (radios, kettles, the sound of pouring water - ref. "John Cage: Water Walk"). I was interested in trying to develop my own compositional system that would explore these experiments taking place in graphic scores and early electronic music in the mid 20th century, but using contemporary hardware and software. The interface of Radius Music was design in such a way to explore repetition, imprecision, and the idea that its audience could interact with the work and become co-authors in the compositional process.