This video was created from layers of footage used at an event at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago for an event called Face the Strange featuring Kranky Records group Implodes. The software used to generate the imagery was developed by Sydney, Australia-based artist and computational designer René Christen. The song used for this video is called Screech Owl from their 2011 album Black Earth.
Screech Owl (Song from Implodes album Black Earth released on Kranky Records), 5:02
The animations below demonstrate how the video looked in real-time during the event. Using the application that René designed, I ran a live audio feed from a microphone that was placed in front of the band directly into my laptop. The application, which utilizes two monitors, used one as a canvas and the other the actual resulting, evolving composition that was projected as a backdrop for the band. On the canvas side, on the bottom the wave form from the audio feed was visible and divided into 64 sections through which appeared wave form from the sound feed. Each of these sections, when selected, was a layer that could be drawn on and interacted with. The opacity of each layer was determined by the volume of the area selected. Above the wave form was the actual canvas area that was used to make the drawings using a digital drawing tablet. Additionally, there was an array of effects that could be applied and adjusted in real time (fades, blurs, passes, glows, etc).
Meadowlands (MCA performance documentation), 5:34
Screech Owl (MCA performance documentation)