In my exploration in procedural art, I found this machine called a pen plotter. Also known as XY plotter.
The way they work is by coding certain instructions on a computer you program the pen to mechanically move and follow the movements assigned on the code, this creates a generative drawing in a physical medium.
Most of these machines are pricey, but there are ways to build them DIY for less than 100 pounds.
The program used is ‘processing’. I have basic knowledge on this program, and I want to explore this idea in the future.
Sol LeWitt was an American minimalist and conceptual artist. He worked with code or procedures, similar to generative art, but in his case. He does the code and then it is made by a human, instead of letting a machine do the work.
Here you can see some instructions written by Sol LeWitt. He didn’t do the drawing himself, he was the conductor/architect.
The 1st of June I went to TATE Britain. I saw Turner and Rothko’s art exhibited.
I also go to see some of Francis Bacon work, which made me extremely happy.
Strangely enough, right beside Turner work there were a couple of CDs and vinyl by Drexciya. I was not expecting to see Detroit techno being presented at TATE Britain.
“As a medium-specific term (such as video art or performance art) radio art implies that the artist who works in, and with, radio is not necessarily a trained DJ, programmer, producer, engineer, or personality, but one who uses sound to make art and seeks ways to transit it through radio as art. The act and process suggests that the radio medium can be used in an alternative way (even shaped as a material), in relation to its familiar use.
The origins of radio are deeply rooted in a very idealistic socialist potential to provide the communication necessary to connect people across space and time. At the beginning of the 20th century, radio was the equivalent to the Internet today in terms of its social as well as political possibilities. However, its development into a highly hierarchical system with expensive licensing fees and severe punishments for violations of these laws in order to protect certain industries has resulted in radio space being controlled by guardians of commerce. Radio licensing laws are concerned with the protection of copyrighted material. Radio has the potential to be a completely liberated, mobile and inhabited mass media.”
I got a cheap radio a couple of weeks ago and Ive been using it to create textures in my music. I really enjoy the sound of the static in the recordings and the sound it does when you change between stations.
To maximise its potential I pair it up with Morphagene and with a distortion pedal and the results have been great
I decided to buy it as a sort of instant sampling device, where I am not in total control of what’s coming out of the device.
Listened to this album album a couple weeks ago and though it was an amazing experience, it extremely minimal, feels like she took everything out of the music except the pure emotion.
This album was made a homage to the Bardo Thodol, the Tibetan book of the dead. Which I though was interesting since one of my favourite movies ‘Enter the Void’ was also inspired by this amazing and insightful way of understanding death.
Directed by David Lynch in 1977. The sound of this movie is amazing, there’s a lot of experimentation with tape and recording. Lynch and Splet did a marvellous work on fitting the sound with the aesthetic of the movie.
TouchDesigner
Ive been experiment with visuals lately. TouchDesigner is great because it allows me to easily explore and experiment. I find it quite similar to making music on a modular synthesiser. Eventually I want to make my own visuals in live situations and make music videos
Just acquired a morphagene, I’ve been really happy experimenting with it. This is a small improvisation I did using only this module. Im exited to see what I do with it in the future.
Indigo_transform
Amazing ambient drone album by Robert Henke from 2009, I’ve been listening to this while writing my essay. Good music for studying
Koyaanisqatsi
Documentary from 1982 demonstrating mans influence in the world and nature. Its really hypnotic and meditative. Cinematography and score done by Philip Glass fit perfectly with the moving image and time lapses. It’s a terrifying and fascinating depiction of the alienation in the 21st century.
From a technical point of view, this is mesmerising. Editing synced perfectly with the music, they flow fluently moving like a symphony.
Transgenesis
The theme of the performance was human evolution and perpetual self-transformation. Destruction leading to construction. It strived to highlight the process of transferring genes genes from one organism to another, and has the potential to change the physical characteristics and traits of an organism, all depicted through performance arts. Beyond that, I felt that the sound design, music and choreography came together as a rejection of transphobia. The fluidity of the performance showed endless boundaries and broken rules; that there was a necessary death for the former ideology of gender and way of life.
no input mixing
idm evolving rhythms
eliane radigue feedback works
very intresting use of feedback in 1969
Probability drums
Mandelbrot set music
inspiration with granular synthesis
Internet Radio
While living in Mexico I discovered NTS radio and BBC 1 radio and I would occasionally listen to them. Ever since living in London, listening to these radio stations have become a lot more interesting. I feel as if there is a closer relationship between the host and the music and NTS is the perfect background music I need during quarantine. It’s the soundtrack for a normal day. Having too many choices creates stress and dread, and its nice to take that away from you and just let someone else guide the musical journey.
In a time where most of our decisions and tastes are defined by an algorithm, having a human connection with the person who is providing the music is refreshing – leaving behind the endless loop of the same music in Spotify.
However, I think listening to radio has became an outdated medium that doesn’t connect with our generation. Internet radio stations provide that human connection that Spotify or radio just don’t provide. There are many great independent radio stations that broadcast from London. For example Soho Radio, Netil Radio, Worldwide FM, London Fields Radio, and Balammi. If you missed the stream session of an artist you like, you can play their sets again on Mixcloud, which is also a great platform for listening to live DJ sets.
Nostalgia attached to a voice
There was a study in which doctors gave day-old babies pacifiers connected to tape recorders. Depending on the pattern of the babies’ sucking, the tape recorder would either switch on the sound of the mother’s voice, or a stranger’s. This made me think on how we can become attached to someone’s voice. I found it insane how with a certain pattern of harmonics and overtones in a voice could bring a newborn comfort. So what sounds take me back to a mental state of comfort? The sound of a football being kicked, the sound of a kayak paddle breaking the water, the sound of rain falling on glass. Maybe a combination of chords of a song I listened to as a kid, or might this all just be a certain type of reverberation causing this effect? In my case whenever I hear a reverb that is similar to the Badminton court where I played with my friends or the reverb tone of a church it gives me nostalgia.
Acoustics in the womb
For the piece I made I tried to replicate how it would sound inside of a womb. After doing further research, I found out that low frequencies reach the womb with ease, higher frequencies coming from the outside sound more muffled, consonants and the melody of speech does not reach. A fetus would hear the low notes on a piano but probably not the higher ones.
Inside the womb, the fetus listens to many sounds; Stomach growls, the heartbeat of its mother, blood flowing through veins, amniotic fluid and some other liquids.
I started off by recording many water sounds. The sound of a river, the sounds of liquid passing from one glass to another, waves in the ocean, drops falling into water. I got some of these samples from the internet, some from a field recorder and others from a contact mic and filtered them. Later, I adjusted the stereo field to create a surround movement. I tried to recreate the sound of the fetus moving around. Subsequently, I added the sound of a heartbeat. Most of these sounds are filtered out around 1kHz and have some sort of time based effect on them.
Finally I added the sound of a mother singing a lullaby the fetus, I filtered out the higher frequencies and added a de-esser with pretty extreme settings. A fetus in the womb would presumably hear the muffled sing-song of speech without much definition
What I did to replicate this acoustic place was adding a convolution reverb and found the smallest chamber adjusted the settings until it sounded sort of realistic. I added the reverb on the master channel so it had an effect on the whole compostition.
Here’s an example of how a fetus would listen to Starman by David Bowie inside the womb.
Radio as a kid
My experience with radio is not very broad, I listen to commercial radio as a kid, every time I was in the car. I would compare it to the free version of Spotify. You cannot chose what songs to play, and some annoying ads would interrupt you in between songs. The same 20 songs would play through the day as every time they introduced the song, they referred to it as a just released hit single, even though it was a song released more than a year before. So, I never really enjoyed radio, I mostly thought the hosts were annoying and the ads were frustrating. At least that’s the experience I had with Mexican radio as a kid.
I often think about morning drives to school with my mom, and how she would always put on the same political radio station. It basically covered the breaking news of the day. I realized that my mom had over time, built a connection and personal relationship with the radio presenters, especially one presenter in particular whose name I don’t recall. She would always turn up the volume when this particular man came on live, and she noted that she liked how he spoke, his humor, his accent and the points he made. Months later, it was announced that he had been fired by the station and my Mom was in an odd way, affected by this. She even begun looking for different stations to tune into. Thinking about it retrospectively now, it really shows how the human element and voice behind radio stations can affect people.
Later as a teenager I found some stations that I liked. Ibero 90.9 FM was a college community radio station that always played good electronic and cumbia music. They would also talk about art and have spoken word. They would inform listeners of the artistic events happening in the city that week. Another station, Airelibre 105.3, was a station that I really enjoyed. At first, I would only play them when I was in the car but with time I fostered a stronger appreciation for the station and even downloaded the app on my phone so I could listen to it while being in my room.
My problem with Nostalgia
I’ll start off by saying I don’t like nostalgia because it romanticizes the past, makes it seem as if it was better and doesn’t make you appreciate the present. It puts the past on a pedestal. Romanticizing the past can help you avoid your responsibilities for present problems. Psychoanalytic, Roderick Peters, described extreme nostalgia as something “that persists and profoundly interferes with the individual’s attempts to cope with his present circumstances.”
Nostalgia is a bittersweet desire for the past. It’s sweet because it allows us to momentarily relive good times; it’s bitter because we recognize that those times can never return. Some people are even nostalgic for times they weren’t even born during.
I’m not saying that nostalgia is completely negative, but it can also be a way for people to analyze the past and grow from experiences. It can be therapeutic.
Nostalgia can be a tool to look into the past but in a colored saturated way.
