Interactive Video Art "Angels / Over Exposure" @ Let There Be Light Festival

A collaboration between Ted Coffey (concept, programming) and myself (programming), Angels / Over Exposure is an interactive video installation in which participants shine lights on projected images of the August 12th conflict in Charlottesville to reveal underlying frescoes of angels. The lights (or the participant's shadows) burn away the layers of images, ultimately creating a collectively-produced abstract collage of conflict and sanctitude.

Hosted at the 11th annual Let There Be Light, an event that celebrates the approach of the winter solstice and the longest night of the year with light-based art installations created by local and regional artists. The exhibition illuminates and transforms the darkened grounds surrounding the V. Earl Dickinson Building for one night only and is attended by over 2,500 people yearly.

"A Framework of Artistic Uses of Large-Scale Multi-Channel Audio and Video Technologies" @ Sounding Out the Space Conference

I presented a paper titled "A Framework of Artistic Uses of Large-Scale Multi-Channel Audio and Video Technologies" at the 2017 Sounding Out the Space Conference in Dublin, Ireland.

The paper explores the history of multi-channel electronic sound (ranging from the the 1940 introduction of the Fantasound multi-channel film sound format to modern high-density loudspeaker arrays) and multi-screen video (from the 1927 three-screen Polyvision format of Abel Gance's Napoleon to modern multi-channel video art installations) and presents a shared framework for analyzing these mediums that focuses on their relationships to "polyopty"/polyphony and the relationship of the audience to the physical materiality and contextual positioning of their technologies. The framework is then applied to works by electroacoustic composer Natasha Barrett and video artist Isaac Julien.

Teaching Audio-Visual Composition @ UVA

This summer course explores the ways in which sound interacts with video. Students investigate this interaction by first discussing the history of electronic sound, video, and their relationship, establishing (or refreshing) basic audio and video editing skills, and then getting hands-on experience through creative projects. Projects include composing sound design for film, creating video art (that incorporates video-recorded and/or animated materials), and designing real-time interactive media projects. The target student of this course is a musician interested in expanding their relationship to video and multimedia. No experience with audio or video technologies is required, although it is welcome.

Questions discussed include: What is sound and image? How can we manipulate sound and image using computers (and other tools)? What is the relationship between sound and image? What are the semiotics of sound and image? What are future potentials of sound and image?