This week I explored work translating sound into other domains. The difficulty here is finding pieces that are more generative, rather than data-visualization based. There is a definite spectrum between these two endpoints, with most work falling somewhere in between.

The first is Sound Structure by Leander Herzog. He used laser-cut plastic to create forms that interpret the sonic qualities of a piece of music. The piece is extremely complex, but its overarching curves and contours guide the viewer through a kind of musical composition. They are reminiscent of some kind of biological pattern; DNA comes to mind. It’s unclear what the audio input for these sculptures was, but we can use our imaginations to make a guess.

Next is the Cylinder project by Andy Huntington. These 3D sculptures are designed to illustrate the complexity of nature, specifically natural sounds. On the left is a visualization of a saturday morning flea market, and on the right is the sound of human breath. The jagged lines of the market piece convey a sense of constant flux and instability. Breath, on the other hand shows a kind of peaceful solemnity that express peace and constancy. It would be interesting to somehow insert these works into their original environments, as a way for people to view their sonic presences in realtime.

Last is a generative audio visualization from Patric Schmidt and Benedikt Groß. They took a unique approach by composing an electro-tech soundtrack in its entirety before beginning on the visualization component. This allowed them to precisely calibrate each visual component to correspond to an audio element. I’m in love with the visual style here, everything is nicely aligned to the feel of the track. The rotation adds a bit of drama to the whole experience as well. I’m wondering about the utility of this work however. It seems destined to live on the web, you can’t really use this is a free-standing music video,  but it also would not fit within a gallery environment.