IF...I Looked Up to the Stars...THEN...Would You Fall Back Down to Me...FUGUE
interactive:::sound:::wandering
IF...I Looked Up to the Stars..THEN...Would You Fall Back Down to Me...FUGUE...2019
In 2016, an astronimical satellite named Hitomi spun out of orbit and broke up, the cause of its demise was ascribed to human and software errors. In reading about this event I found parallels in the behaviour of the satellite to my own psychological distress when overloaded with information.
This work speculates on the last moments of the satellite’s life. The computer and the five speakers represents the satellite and the gold piping represent its last orbit. The metal rods, steel ball chain, rocks, and embroidery hoop represent the communication apparatus of mission control. Over time due to repeated numbers of melodies the sound composition stops resembling a musical fugue and begins to break down into noise evoking the secondary meaning of the word fugue: a dissociative state, where a subject is prone to wandering and suffers from loss of memory and identity.
IF...THEN,
Funnel and embroyery drum detail
Infographic directions for interaction
Participants dropping cubes onto fabric
the interactive interface allows the audience to communicate with the satellite by dropping coloured cubes on to a drum. The satellite responds by generating a sound composition that becomes increasingly convoluted and unrecognizable. The composition changes in tone and evokes the secondary meaning of the word fugue: a dissociative state, where a person suffers from loss of memory and identity and prone to wandering.
Between the two works a generative audio composition is developed based on Bach’s Thema Regium fugue where THEN…would you fall from the sky into me is executing the program while being bombarded by communications from IF…i whisper up towards the stars.
IF...THEN, from above showing the cubes scattered on the floor.
Installation Documentation. 2019. Audio begins 35 seconds in.
