Queries - The Visual Music Village

'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'. (INVITE FOR INTERVIEW)

2012-08-19T14:19:33.996Z

Hello VMV users.

My name is Caoimhín Watts, a final year student at Glasgow School of Art. I am currently studying a masters degree in animation, and I have studied Art & Design and Graphic Design previously. I am trying to gather information/research for my dissertation and final practical work. The title of my written piece is, 'Visual Music Practice and the Influence of Evolving Media Platforms on Aesthetics and Representation'.

I am currently contacting a number of people/companies who I believe could give informed responses in a short interview regarding the above topic, and I was hoping that some of the people on Visual Music Village may be able to spare half an hour of their time. I would be very grateful and interested to hear your views on the subject, having seen some of your work.

If you are willing to speak with me I would, of course, send a copy of any questions I will ask during interview in advance. Any answers/information you provide would be used for my dissertation and to inform my practical work, and for no other purpose. Also, I would be happy to send you a copy of my completed work, both written and practical, once completed. I would really appreciate it if I could organise a short interview over Skype with some of you in the next few weeks, if this would be convenient.

If you prefer to answer my questions in written form, that's totally fine too. Any input is very welcome! Written responses can be sent to caoimhinwatts@yahoo.co.uk

Thanks very much for your time

Caoimhín Watts

Questions...

1 Sound and song bring to every person an individual experience, an 'inner perception' and deeply personal sensation. With this in mind, how effective is a standardised methodology for colour scaling and structured representation of form within the context of visual music creation?

2 Colour Movement/Tempo Form

How important/dominant are each of these in terms of their use in the visual representation of music/sound?

3 Do you think we have a good enough understanding of the psychology and physical mechanisms of sight and of individual emotional reaction, to enable us to create an informed visual response to the aural?

4 To what extent do you think contemporary visual music practice is embraced by the gallery system - and is its acceptance (or lack of) comparable to that of earlier works and styles by the likes of Mary Ellen Bute or Oskar Fischinger, for example?

5 What affect does viewing environment and context have on viewer perception of abstract visual music? (e.g. Animated footage in a gallery space/on a personal computer screen/viewed before a film at the cinema/in a 'live' VJ context etc.)

6 Can abstract animation - without characters, subjects or objective realism, express any narrative within a musical score? (example - Beethoven's 'Pastoral')

7 Creative time-based tools which work within 3D space, controllable particle systems (such as 'Trapcode Form' and 'Plexus') and programmed manipulation of form and movement over time are part of the contemporary visual music practitioner's toolkit. How has this influenced the progression of style, aesthetics and representation within the field of visual music creation?

8 Dance is an instantly controllable visualisation of music. Do the process-based tools and methods employed in visual music creation afford a true, absolute, organic and harmonious representation of music? Does 'process' stifle or aid the creation of true representation?

(The above question does not take into account audio reactors/digitally synthesized (instant) visual music forms.)

9 Can exact, mathematically produced visual representations capture the essence of a piece of music?

10 Are stereoscopic visuals more representative of stereo sound than conventional screen based visuals? Why?

11 Can you tell me about your own practice and some of your ideologies concerning the creation of visuals as a representation of music.

THANKS AGAIN!

(caoimhinwatts@yahoo.co.uk)

Visual Music survey!

2009-12-09T17:54:42.000Z

In order to find out which one of two different visual music technologies audiences prefer, I have created an online survey for comparing them. Please take part by filling it out, and when I have enough responses I will return here and post the results!

The survey is reached using the link below, and should not take you more than 10-15 minutes to complete:

http://www.surveygizmo.com/s/204226/visual-music-1

I have not disclosed too many details here because that may influence the way you answer. Rest assured I will post all the details when the survey is closed.

Thank you!

Ilias Bergstrom
www.onar3d.com

Thesis project

2009-04-16T21:38:18.000Z

Dear all,

my name is Leo Cardoso and I'm a graduate student in Ethnomusicology at the University of Texas at Austin.
My Masters thesis will focus on visual music from a sociological/anthropological point of view.

I'd like to undertake a 2-month fieldwork (June-August 2009) in some place directly connected with visual music. The idea is to experience/understand how an institution (or more than one) promotes visual music, and how visual music is learned/taught.

Would you have any suggestion for a potential place for fieldwork within the US (I've already emailed the CVM and the iota center)?

Best,

Leo

Image to Music

2008-12-29T13:05:45.000Z

Dennis Miller posted a very interesting article some time ago discussing programs that convert images to music (Say It With Pictures). I got the impression from this article that the programs work only with static images, not with videos or animations. Can someone recommend software for converting video files to music? thanks, Terry

VM venues

2008-10-24T05:43:53.000Z

Hi VM villagers(specially from those who curate or organize venues.)

I am a visual music artist based in NY.
Currently I am looking for new venues for my visual music series (exhibitions, screenings and live visual performances in Europe, US and elsewhere).
In particular, I am searching for live VM venues in Denmark mid March- April 2009.

One of them the series is a collaboration with theremin sound artist.
samples:
http://www.vusik.net/cwdc.html

My other works are on http://www.vusik.net
You can see my line of work there....

Let me know of upcoming suitable venues for my work.
Thanks!

chiaki watanabe

What is Visual Music?

2008-09-29T14:26:26.000Z

What is visual music? Is it the visualisation of sound? or working with visuals in a musical way? or the interaction of sound with image in time?

With more people uploading works discrepancies are becoming apparent.
So what defines a work as visual music? and why should we exclude all that this definition does not account for?

A

Composition and Aesthetics

2008-09-26T01:18:37.000Z

Hello,

I'm really interested in how other people choose to compose their audio-visual / visual music pieces. (As well as if a division can be made between audio-visual and visual music styles).

Do people start with either the completed audio or video and then compose the missing element alongside it, or do they develop the two in tandem? Using each element to fuel ideas for the other.

Another question I ask is do people who use sonic visualisation software or software that convert sounds to images and images and sounds, create entire pieces in this way or to provide material for later association.

I usually create the two media separately and then combine them through reflection.

A