AMPLIFIED GIANT BALLOON  - Hommage a Kenneth Noland

   My interactive work “Hommage à Kenneth Noland” (2015) for amplified giant balloon, vibrators, synthesized tones and projected video animations is a sensual mechanical drone coupled to the resonant frequencies of the giant balloon highlighted with variable harmonics and slowly mutating projections based loosely on the minimalist Color Field work of painter Kenneth Noland.  In a mobile-like effect influenced by Noland's contemporaries Calder and Feldman, the colors, shapes, tones and timbres randomly drift and cycle against the fixed physical data.  In this work, the amplitude and fundamental frequency of live drones created on the amplified giant balloon are read by my original Max/MSP/Jitter program that translates the sound information into both video and sound synthesis parameters. There is additional interaction generated directly between the sound synthesis and the video.  The drones on the giant balloon are created improvisationally which allows for the performer (myself) to respond to and interact with Max audio and video in real time.  The work can be of variable duration but generally is presented as eight minutes in length.  

​Work on this interface was supported by 2014 artist-in-residencies at the Logos Foundation in Gent, Belgium and the EMS (Elektronmusikstudion Stockholm) in Stockholm, Sweden.   The above documentation is from a live performance at DisPerSion Lab at York University, Toronto, Canada, March 2016.  Since its creation, the work has been presented over 30 times throughout North America and Europe, including Cycling'74's Expo74 at Mass MOCA in April 2019.