Installation

Bravura 

Bravura was a multimedia installation that I created for my Masters Degree Show in 2009. I made it with the help of an Arduino; several computer programmes; some interesting coding and bunch of servos and chime bars. It was a fun but complicated piece to work on.

The idea: I wanted to use bird flight as a score for a piece of music in real time, in other words I wanted the piece to be interactive - the score being directly controlled by environmental stimulus (in this case the bird flight). The technology at the time was a little unstable for a real time performance using a live video feed so instead I used a pre-recorded video of some house martins (lining up on telegraph wires before migration) to drive the composition. The video below shows the final installation.

What's happening in this piece: Imagine the whole video image overlayed with a stave (the four lines most traditional western compositions are notated on). As the video plays the birds movements are tracked frame by frame by a piece of Arduino programming (which I created). As each bird moves up or down the screen (or the stave as it were) it triggers a signal to be sent through the Arduino to one of the servos which then plays a note on one of the corresponding chime bars. The note played will correspond directly to the birds position on the screen as if it were a note on the stave; so the higher the bird on the screen the higher the note that plays etc). 

Put more simply, the birds are the music. From feedback I had during the exhibition, it seems many visitors found themselves relaxed and mesmerised by the music created by the house martins.

Sonorous Form

Sonorous Form: cello and water - is multimedia artwork I created in 2006 where the interplay between independent monitors creates a piece of improvised audio visual music. The piece was first created for my undergraduate degree show at DOJCAD, University of Dundee. It was later exhibited at the Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall and at the Futuresonic Festival in Manchester. The installation has been exhibited using anything from 8 - 21 individual monitors. Thanks to Eilidh Glynn, who played cello.

The idea: The aim of the piece is to demonstrate the physical influence of sound on our environment as well as celebrate the musicality inherent in the randomness of the everyday. Inspiration was taken from the fab work on Cymatics by Dr. Hans Jenny. 

What's happening in this piece: 

• In this installation, each monitor represents a note on the C major scale playing an audiovisual loop of 8 notes corresponding to its position (eg: monitor 1 = plays only C; monitor 2 = plays only D, monitor 3 = plays only E etc).
• Each monitor plays a loop of eight of the same note played at random (eg: random duration, force and spacing). 
• As well as playing the sound each monitor plays a video image showing the corresponding pattern each sound makes on the surface of water. The imagery is created by light reflecting off the surface of blackened water as the notes are played from a speaker underneath the water. 

The 21 monitor version of this piece is currently held in archive at the Threshold artspace, as part of the Collections III: works by women artists. Below is a video of the installation at Threshold Artspace, Perth Concert Hall.

Sonorous Form: floor and water is an interactive multimedia artwork I created, again for my degree show, in 2006 where the audiences position in the room triggers sounds to be played through speakers under a tank of water. A light is positioned over the tank to create reflections which are portrayed not only on the water's surface but also onto the wall of the room. The aim of the piece is to demonstrate the interconnectedness of our environment and to encourage the viewer to think of their impact on the world around them while exploring the physical influence and beauty of sound on our environment. Inspiration was taken from the work on Cymatics by Dr. Hans Jenny.

The Space Between Us 

The Space Between Us is multimedia artwork I created in 2006 for my undergraduate degree show at DOJCAD, University of Dundee. 

The idea: The aim of the piece is to demonstrate the relationship we have with our environment, highlighting how simply breathing moves matter around us.The intended impact of the piece was to 'reconnect' us; demonstrating that we are 'one' with the environment and that it sustains our life. I had hoped to inspire viewers to think about their interaction and influence on the world around them - everything from the decisions they make to the words they whisper. 

Interestingly, many viewers of the piece fed back that it had an emotional impact on them - it made them think deeply about the relationships they had and what lay between them and the other person; I had not intended for this but was delighted that people were finding other and deeper meaning from the work. 'Art is in the eye of the beholder', as they say.

N.B. Unfortunately the documentary footage doesn't show you the dust moving on the middle monitor as clearly as the live installation...a very dark room or a bit of imagination is needed when viewing the video above.

What's happening in this piece: The three monitors are synchronised. Each monitor shows the video taken simultaneously by one of three cameras. The left monitor shows a woman with her eyes shut, facing right, breathing deeply. The middle monitor shows dust particles in the air. The right monitor shows a man with his eyes closed, facing left. The couple take it in turns to breathe, as they do the middle monitor shows how their breath affects the dust particles that lie in the space between them. (You could say it is simply a couple of folk blowing hot air :-).