2021
7-channel sound installation (3D printed PLA plastic on repurposed mic stands, speakers, LED matrix), 3D printed PLA plastic with embedded electronics, two-channel video (channel 1: 18’24”; channel 2: interactive, duration variable), vinyl and custom software
Commissioned by Art Jameel in collaboration with the Kochi-Muziris Biennale and Burger Collection
This project is open source. A technical manual that contains links to codes and 3d models can be accessed here. All codes, 3d models and other resources may be re-used and re-mixed under the creative commons license CC by 4.0.
”Reasonable Music is an interactive environment consisting of (text as) sound and (text as) image. The components within this environment are derived from the processing of the Daoist text Daodejing. Insights from computational analysis on the text’s formal features are filtered through human intuition to generate a network of sonic and visual objects.
A ‘filtered’ version of the Daodejing - consisted only of nouns and verbs that also function as nouns - is deployed as training data for an AI algorithm (Tensorflow). The trained-AI, which functions as a quasi-reasonable automatic-writing machine, continuously generates new ‘teachings.’ These sometimes random, sometimes almost-insightful ‘teachings’ are further abstracted into live visuals, sounds, and 3d shapes.
As formal features progress further and further along a chain of events away from their origins, they are transformed, distorted, and take on new features.”
Photo courtesy of Jameel Arts Centre, photo credit: Daniella Baptista