Noisefold
by Noisefold
Self-published, 2007
20 pp. N/A
Noisefold
by Noisefold
Interactive Futures 2007
Friday, November 16, 9:30 p.m.
Conference website:
http://cfisrv.finearts.uvic.ca/interactivefutures/IF07/.
Reviewed by Dene Grigar
Digital Technology and Culture
Washington State University Vancouver
grigar@vancouver.wsu.edu
It makes a certain amount of sense to
review both a book about and performance
of visual music. Noisefold, the
book, archives high quality still images
captured from ideal moments of the work
and its written text contextualizes the
underlying theory and techniques that
the reviewer can consult, while Noisefold,
the performance, provides the impetus
for reviewing, the drive to want to tell
others about it. One is mesmerized by
a work of art and then seeks out more
information about the artist and the work
in order to know more about it.
So it is with Noisefold, the bands,
work. Comprised of Cory Metcalf and David
Stout, Noisefold is a duo out of Santa
Fe interested in "network performance
exploring A-Life, chaotic systems, intelligent
noise and visual music" ("IF07"). Their
book is a well-articulated volume that
details performances given by the two
artists as well as the installations they
have created and digital prints produced
since 2005. Their performance at Interactive
Futures 2007 resembled nothing of the
"Jimmy Hendrix with a power drill" description
found at the conference website. Rather,
it was a powerful birthing of A-Life data
that delighted and fascinated. Yeah, it
was noisy, but when is creation ever described
as quiet? Think the Big Bang taking place
in a gallery in Victoria, Canada, and
you get a better idea of the experience.
A small book of 20 pages, Noisefold
devotes three to explaining the duos
ideas and history. We learn that they
are influenced by Castille, Russolo, Kandinsky,
the Vasulkas, Wiener, and Cage; have performed
in Morocco, New York, among other places;
and have won numerous media arts and technology
awards for their work. We also learn that
they describe their art as "visual music
theater where lifelike avatars
emerge, evolve and emit a startling array
of subtle sounds, chaotic rhythms, and
shimmering walls of harmonic noise" (2).
Also presented is information about installations
like 100 Monkeys, a universe of
A-Life creatures that mate, reproduce,
and are fed upon by predators also generating
from the system Metcalf and Stout set
in motion. Another installation, "Grey
Crossing" uses video noise to generate
grey "rectilinear forms" (6-7). The final
portion of the book focuses on prints.
Twenty-three images are reproduced in
the books pages, nine of which are
in full color. Of these, the ones from
the Intersect series are the most
compellingthe clarity of the
flaming oranges, reds, and yellows against
the stark black background is visually
stunning.
The CD that accompanies the book provides
six visual representationswhat
Metcalf and Stout refer to as "live cinema"of
live performances they have given. Included
are ".02," "Night Blooms," "Heat Seeker,"
"genius loci," "Light Vessel," and "Azoth."
This reviewer found "Night Blooms" the
most unique of the collection in that
normally free form chaotic images give
way to oscillating figures reminiscent
of plant life.
In the live performance at Interactive
Futures Metcalf and Stout faced one another
from across the gallery. In front of each
were laptops wired up to cameras, projectors,
microphones, and sensors. The description
of the piece found on the conference website
puts it aptly: The artists "mix or breed
3D forms from a database of mathematic
equations to create live audio-visual
structures resembling fictional architectures
and artificial organisms" ("IF07"). The
way in which both men gestured at the
sensors during the performance as a way
to create "lifelike avatars
[that] emerge, evolve and emit a startling
array of chaotic rhythms, and shimmering
sonic textures" ("IF07"), embued the experience
with a sense of necromancy. What else
does one call the creation of a life form
from mere data but a kind of magic?
The book is not available, and the conference
performance was not taped and archived.
But their work can be found online at
their project site at http://nfold.csf.edu/Pages/Noisefold.htm
and on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/user/NoiseFold.
Unfortunately, no performance schedule
is provided, but it is well worth the
effort to contact them to find out when
they next will perform.