Deerhoof Infinite Song

Posted on February 12, 2013 by aaronsherwood

I created an infinite Deerhoof song. I took their song Snoopy Waves and chopped it up into it’s respective sections. During the call (917-534-6464 ext. 11) the numbers 1-7 on the phone will each pick one of the sections of the song. That section will keep looping until another section is chosen. Rearrange the song and rock out to your favorite section for as long as you like.

Dusk

Posted on February 7, 2013 by aaronsherwood

I wanted to create a video that was rather abstract, but still played within the confines of time. I wanted multiple frames of the source video to be included on screen in a way where it would be hard to tell what the original movie was. Using openFrameworks I created two different settings. One captures the screen then draws that captured image back to screen in random places over top of the original image. The second draws the video to an FBO that again draws a subsection to random places. Since the FBO is not cleared old frames stay displayed until their alpha values finally get completely overwritten by new frames. The FBO is then added to an ofTexture and is additive blended with a white rectangle. In both settings the mouse controls the alpha value. I improvised between the two settings and with the alpha values. The original video was shot with my iPhone on the Brooklyn Bridge at dusk. I made the music too. Code for the video:

Redial – Hello World

Posted on February 4, 2013 by aaronsherwood

The first 32 bars of Charlie Parker’s saxophone solo from Kim (no. 2) played with the dial tones of a telephone. The beginning riffs on the first 8 notes of Kim before going into Kim itself. Made using Asterisk.

Firewall

Posted on December 17, 2012 by aaronsherwood

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Firewall is an interactive media installation created with Mike Allison. A stretched sheet of spandex acts as a membrane interface sensitive to depth that people can push into and create fire-like visuals as well as expressively play music.

The original concept stems from a performance piece I’m currently developing as Purring Tiger (with Kiori Kawai) titled Mizalu, which will premiere in June 2013. During one scene in the performance dancers will press into the spandex with the audience facing the opposite side. Mizalu is about death and experience of reality, so this membrane represents a plane that you can experience but never get through. As hard as you try to understand what’s in between life and death, you can never fully know.

The piece was made using Processing, Max/MSP, Arduino and a Kinect. The Kinect measures the average depth of the spandex from the frame it is mounted on. If the spandex is not being pressed into nothing happens. When someone presses into it the visuals react around where the person presses, and the music is triggered. An algorithm created with Max allows the music to speed up and slow down and get louder and softer, based on the depth. This provides a very expressive musical playing experience, even for people who have never played music before. A switch is built into the frame which toggles between two modes. The second mode is a little more aggressive than the first.

User Testing: