DATALINE
Sound installations for hard drives & arduino
DATALINE and CLAPPING DRIVES are part of a series of kinetic and sound installations composed of the assembly of several modules where the hard disks are the only acoustic sources. Each hard disk is here a synthesizer voice that produces generative melodic patterns. When the listener moves along the piece, the natural spatialization allows the emergence of new minimalist patterns.
We are made of thoughts, dreams and ideas, but it is our bodies that reveal us to the world. In the realm of digital, virtual and abstract art, these obsolete things are like the remnants of a changing entity. They speak to us about our identity and our evolution. Obsolete recycled automatons, the "mechanical" hard disks are here dismantled, deprived of their memory tray to leave only the mechanical part visible. A new life is breathed into them with the help of microcontrollers in order to generate generative or repetitive musical patterns, a form of industrial poetry reflecting our relationship to technology.
Les projets DATALINE et CLAPPING DRIVES font partie d'une série d'installations cinétiques et sonores composées de l’assemblage de plusieurs modules où les disques durs sont les seules sources acoustiques. Chaque disque dur est ici une voix de synthétiseur qui produit des motifs mélodiques génératifs. Lorsque l’auditeur se déplace à proximité de la pièce, la spatialisation naturelle permet l’émergence de nouveaux motifs minimalistes.
Nous sommes faits de pensées, de rêves et d'idées, mais ce sont nos corps qui nous révèlent au monde. Dans le domaine des arts numériques, virtuels et abstraits, ces choses obsolètes sont comme les vestiges d'une entité changeante. Ils nous parlent de notre identité et de notre évolution. Automates recyclés obsolètes, les disques durs "mécaniques" sont ici démantelés, privés de leur plateau mémoire pour ne laisser visible que la partie mécanique. Une nouvelle vie leur est insufflée à l'aide de microcontroleurs afin de générer des motifs musicaux génératifs ou répétitifs, une forme de poésie industrielle reflétant notre rapport à la technologie.
DATALINE
2018 - Sound installation
hard drives (HDD), arduino
DATALINE is a sound installation composed of the assembly of several hard disk modules controlled via Arduino. Each hard disk is an acoustic sound source, making a synthesizer that algorithmically produces generative melodic patterns. Although repetitive and inspired by the minimalist american composers current, these patterns generate infinite variations so when the listener moves close to the piece the"natural spatialization" creates the illusion of the emergence of new patterns.
The installation"Dataline" is part of the series"Hard Drives Music", co-produced by Le Cube.
CLAPPING DRIVES
2016 - Sound installation
hard drives (HDD), arduino
"Clapping Drives" is an acoustic installation as an hommage to Steve Reich's "Clapping Music". Steve Reich wanted to use the human body as sole sound source for his piece. Here, like a cybernetic counterpoint, the hard drives are the only acoustic sound sources. Obsolete and recycled hard drives are dismounted to expose a structure which may recall a clock system, made with great precision and complexity.
The upper row of hard drives plays a 12/8 bell pattern for the entirety of the piece. The second row plays the same pattern, but after every 4 bars shifts by one eighth note to the right. The two rows continue this until the second row has shifted 12 eighth notes and is hence playing the pattern in unison with the first row again (as at the beginning), 48 bars later.
"Clapping Drives" is a part of Hard Drives Music installations suite.
