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Authors: |
Ox, Jack. | |
Title: |
ôQuanta & Hymn to Matterö | |
Keywords: |
visualization, Information Theory, Complexity Theory, Intermedia | |
| http://www.bway.net/~jackox/ | ||
Abstract: |
My long term interest has been to
create and solve problems encountered in the visualization of music as an abstract
phenomenon. This self-authored system for translating extant compositions into visual
performance involves both Information and Complexity theories. The artworks which have
emerged from this process have embodied principles of Intermedia, as defined by Dick
Higgins, the late avant-garde theorist and Fluxus artist. Intermedia is a completely
different concept from multimedia, although it can be included in a multimedia
environment. While with multimedia , content is presented in more than one medium
simultaneously, while Interrmedia is a combination of structural elements or syntax which
come from more than one medium but are combined into one. In my current project - my translation of ôQuanta and Hymn to Matterö by the American composer Dary John Mizelle (after the poem ôHymn to Matter: written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin) I have entered not only the conceptual world of new technology but actual 3 dimensional digital space. In doing this I continue to use the two disciplines: music theory and phonetics. Past works are two dimensional figurative landscapes and or architectural spaces which have been shifted and collaged algorithimically into a non-perspectival complex pattern. The outcome cannot be pre-imagined due to the many layers of systematical interaction in the finished collage/painting. In this paper I would like to describe my journey into the CAVE VR production of ôQuanta and Hymn to Matterö, a large orchestral composition including chorus and 8 multi-phonic soloists, which will be premiered at Ars Electronica in 1999. The CAVE production involves modeling my hand drawn pencil pictures of actual desert images into 3D. They are divided into horizontal sections based on how many musical lines play within a given instrumental family at a given moment, and then divided in the other direction because of pitch or articulatory information that reflect time values of notes. These sections move up and down in real time, imaging pitch changes and articulations They are further modified by colored texture mapping derived from a system which makes visible detailed changes in timbre and dynamics. The music plays like an invisible marching band while the viewer/listener interacts by moving through this immersive 3d space at his/her own will, experiencing sound and image through his/her own direction. |
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| Ox, Jack. jackox@bway.net History of works: 1977-- Gregorian Chant 1978-79 J.S.Bach 1979-80ôSymphony in Three Movementsö, I.Stravinsky 1981-83 ôNuagesö, C.Debussy 1983-91 Eighth Symphony of Anton Bruckner 1987 ô4Minutes and 33 seconds, John Cage 1991-95 ôUrsonateö, Kurt Schwitters 1995---- ôQuanta & Hymn to Matter, Dary John Mizelle Education: 1965-67 University of Colorado, Boulder 1967-69 San Francisco Art Institute, B.F.A. 1974-75 Yale U School of Art & Architecture, New Haven, Conn. 1975-77 University of California, San Diego, M.F.A. 1980-82 Manhattan School of Music, New York City 1992 Phonetik-Institut, Universitõt K÷ln 1987-1993 Lived and worked in Cologne, Germany Editorial advisor for "Leonardo" since1987 Published original performance of the ôUrsonateö by Kurt himself on WERGO (WER6304-2) 1993. Internationally exhibited Intermedia artist--performances/exibitions including: 1998- Podewil, Berlin Die Alstervilla Stiftung zur F÷rderung zeitgen÷ssicsche Kunst, Hamburg Galerie Wolfram u. Andrea Cornelisen, Wiesbaden 1997-The Kitchen, ôTen Years of Essential Music: Festival with D.J.Mizelle, NY Stephen Gang Gallery, NYC 1996- one-person show at Die Neue Galerie der Stadt Linz, Austria "SoundCulture'96", S.F., Calif. 1994- Centre Georges Pompidou [Kurt Schwitters retrospective] 1993- CeBIT computer fair with Xerox Engineering Systems, Hannover, Germany 1990- Kunsthalle, Bremen, Germany 1987- Het Apollohuis, Eindhoven, Netherlands 1985- "Vom Klang der Bilder", Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Germany 1984- On the Wall/On the Air: Artists Make Noise", MIT, Cambridge, Mass. 1982- Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn, NY 1979- "Sound (Scores and Notations)", Institute for Art and Urban Resources at P.S. 1, Long Island City, New York | ||