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performed by Joshua Banks Mailman, Arthur Kampela, and Rhonda Taylor on June 7, in the New York Philharmonic Biennial 2016 at National Sawdust as part of the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival (NYCEMF)
Material Soundscapes Collide is a trio improvisation between interactive audiovisual technologist-improvisor Joshua Mailman, composer-guitarist Arthur Kampela, and baritone saxophonist Rhonda Taylor. Kampela’s extended guitar playing involves entirely new playing techniques, combining in a compelling and seamless manner, traditional playing with noise oriented, percussive effects. Taylor explores parametric extremes: clear vs. distorted, low vs. high, etc. and varying states of activity and intelligibility, through traditional and extended techniques. Mailman performs using his FluxNOISations sensor-based full-body audio-visual interactive system, developed by him (with Sofia Paraskeva who also designed the system’s wireless sensor gloves). Using physical modeling algorithms, FluxNOISations generates three streams of digitally synthesized unpitched percussion-noise sounds: wood, metal, and noise (water, sandpaper, pebbles, sticks). These sonic streams are controlled through gradual motions of feet, elbows, shoulders, hands, wrists, and torso. Through these same body motions, the FluxNOISations performer also simultaneously manipulates generated visual imagery. The projected graphics present shifting harmonious symmetries of shape and color, like Oskar Fischinger’s and John Whitney’s “visual music.” Thus, through body motions, FluxNOISations coordinates its “visual music” with its “aural noise.” (See “Improvising Synesthesia” in Leonardo Electronic Almanac, v.19/3, 2013.) The trio, duo, and solo sections of Material Soundscapes Collide present call-and-response interactions, as well as oppositions and trajectories of percussive-noise from classical guitar (Kampela), baritone sax (Taylor), and audiovisual streams of FluxNOISations (Mailman), in an unprecedented style of multisensory improvisation.
Note: No sound samples (pre-recorded elements) were used. All sound (and graphics) are generated in the moment of performance.
Performed a twelve-minute improvised solo of FluxNOISations in the New York Festival of ElectroAcoustic Music (NYCEMF) on June 28, 2015, at Abrons Arts Center in NYC.
Performed FluxNOISations within an hour-long collaborative work presented by Collide-O-Scope's Waking in Altamira on June 5, 2015, at Tenri Cultural Institute in NYC.
Below are links to videos of Parallel Soundscapes, a duo of FluxNoisations and circuit-bent radio (improvised multimedia performance by J. Mailman and L. Taylor at UCSB, May 2013):
video of full performance (front view) on YouTube
video of part 3, the finale (side view) on Vimeo
video of part 1 (side view) on Vimeo
video of part 3 (front view) on Vimeo
Below are preliminary tests of the FluxNoisations interactive system (Graphics, music, and interactivity mapping developed by Joshua B. Mailman. Sensor gloves developed by Sofia Paraskeva. Performance by Joshua B. Mailman)
FluxNoisations is a re-adaptation of the Fluxations system developed by Joshua B. Mailman and Sofia Paraskeva.
At the time of filming these videos (September 2, 2012) the graphics of FluxNoisations had not yet been optimized; some things malfunctioned slightly.
Thus there are some problems with synchrony (sometimes graphics respond before the audio), which unfortunately obscure some of the interactivity.
These issues have been fixed. Videos of the newer version appear above. These videos below (as well as the duo performance videos above) provide best provide indication of the sound making capabilities of the system.
Its sibling interactive system, Fluxations, is at a more advanced stage and has been demonstrated and performed with. To view videos of Fluxations, click here
Both Fluxations and FluxNoisations use an infrared video camera (Kinect) and custom sensor gloves for input to an RTcmix score script running in a MaxMSP patch. The interactive generative graphics are programmed in Processing.
FluxNoisations -- video footage of prelimary test demonstration (requires QuickTime plugin):
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