multimedia

NSFW: This Wired feature takes a look at a new 360-degree interactive video system that media lab Obscura Digital is creating to install in a Las Vegas penthouse.

The technology looks amazing – but it looks like the content they are preparing for the penthouse cinema install is pretty dumbed-down and sexist. That may be perfect for a Las Vegas install – but I’d like to see a system like this configured to create cutting edge generative graphics, based on music – something like the psychedelic graphics of Glenn Marshall. That would create an incredible dance environment.

Give this a look and leave a comment with your thoughts. Is there a future for this technology, beyond 80’s video graphics and dancing girls?

Pulp Fiction gets remixed, Kutiman style, by knoertz:

What you see is what you hear!

Let me know what you think of knoertz’s remix!

Spheres is an absolutely gorgeous, hypnotic abstract music video by Regis Hervagault:

42000 HD frames at 50p for a duration of 14 minutes, this is my own little space opera inspired by the teachings from Anaxagoras of Clazomenae. philosophy.gr/presocratics/anaxagoras.htm

Using a variety of software including open source tools and custom scripting, i designed a mesmerizing spaceball choregraphy to evoke atoms, DNA, seeds, spirals, fractals, etc…

The first draft screened as a backdrop for the robotic and live music performance by URBAN ORCHESTRA at the city council during the new year celebration in 2008 meeting critical acclaim.

Here’s the final director’s cut with an updated soundtrack and tighter edits to fit my original vision.

This reminds me of the amazing pairing of Ron Fricke and synthesist Micheal Stearns on movies like Chronos, except here, abstract images are used.

Give this a look and leave a comment with your thoughts!

Ambient electronica artist Robert Rich sends word that a collection of short stories, Enriched Visions, inspired by his music, is now available in paperback:

A collection of short science fiction and surreal stories by Matt Howarth, based on the compositions of ambient pioneer Robert Rich.

Embark on a series of fantastic voyages, where you’ll encounter:

• the link between a massive brushfire and aboriginal cave art,
• a mathematician’s quest into the desert,
• giant lizards orbiting the Earth,
• an old man captivated by dancing moss in a park,
• a kidnapping in the new Ice Age,
• the music a lonely lighthouse keeper uses to while away the nights,
• the fate of the last Martians
• the unnatural hunger of Dame Procol’s new lifeforms,
• a man in search of amnesia,
• an antique dealer specializing in artifacts from the 21st Century’s texplosion era,
• an alien spire that reaches beyond the sky, and more.

This book also features story notes in which Howarth and Rich discuss the connections between the stories and the source music.”

Enriched Visions is available for $17.50.

If you’ve read Enriched Visions, leave a comment with your thoughts!

Photophonics is an audiovisual installation by Bruno Mathez and Mike Blow. It was shown at the “Sonic Art” exhibition at The Blank Gallery in Brighton, part of the Brighton Fringe, in May 2009.

According to Blow & Mathez:

Photophonics is the first result of Bruno’s 3d video-projection mapping experiments. It is a ‘dispersed instrument’ with a number of electronic oscillators created by Mike, positioned on architectural elements of the dark performance space. Each one emits sound in direct response to light. A visual score is played, transforming the space into an hypnotic audiovisual experience.

You can find some of Mike blow’s work at evolutionaryart.co.uk.

via Califaudio