Autarkeia Aggregatum for computer-realized video and sound (2004, 9'30)

• Main Author: Battey, B.
• Format: Audio
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: RAE 2008; UoA 67 Music; Rae; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2086/1494

Autarkeia Aggregatum is an integrated sound and image composition emphasizing continuous flow and transformation. A particular resonance was sought between the visual and sonic materials, a resonance that would suggest a way of being in which a deep inner fullness is expressed outwardly — audibly and visibly — in elegant, self-sufficient restraint. There are no cuts or splices in the visual aspect of the work; it unfolds instead as a constantly evolving, massed animation of nearly 12,000 individual points. Technically, the work involved the development and refinement of custom image and audio processing techniques. For the video, an Objective-C plug-in for Apple's Motion 2 was developed. The plug-in applies Brownian noise and rotational schemes to pixels extracted from a source image, as well as frame-to-frame feedback processing. The audio involved extending Bézier spline modeling software (see Outcome 1) with formant-preserving granulation techniques to render melodic lines. Spline modeling was also combined with convolution techniques to create precise control of tonal tensions in portions of the work. Autarkeia Aggregatum has received over 40 screenings in Europe, the Americas, and Asia. These include the European Experimental Exhibition D-NEFF (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain), the International Media Art Biennale WRO (Wroclaw, Poland), the Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Art (Minneapolis), InVideo (Milan), Videologia (Volgograd, Russia), 700.is (Iceland), Amsterdam Film Experience, Athens Video Festival, Internationales Videofestival Bochum, the Seoul International Computer Music Festival, VAD International Video and Digital Arts Festival (Girona, Spain), and the New York Digital Salon. The work was featured in the 33rd Annual SIGGRAPH Computer Animation Conference Art Gallery (Boston), and was published on the SIGGRAPH Select DVD (ISBN 1-59593-377-8). A paper and video describing the visual algorithms and a demonstration movie were presented at the conference and are included on the SIGGRAPH conference ...