Current/Recent |
Archive (selected) |
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| BIRDLAND |
3D interactive audio
Birdland is an immersive sound work. Set in a 3D game construction space, sound is handled in a plastic, sculptural and architectural manner. Within the space, the user glides freely around sculptural, architectural and topological formations. The project aims to develop new techniques for composing sound and new ideas about the significance of listening, through a reading of Deleuzian texts in conjunction with playful and intuitive exploration. An iteration of the work presented for the Time Transcendence Performance conference is an early prototype created for the Design Research Institute’s Virtual Reality Centre.
Artists: Bruce Mowson
Project partners: Intervention through Art: RMIT Design Research Institute, Firelight Technologies.
Download: FMOD Sandbox (required software, 12.5mb)
Download: Solar 260209 (software project + instructions, 13mb)
| SCENT |
Generative Mashup
In the tradition of appropriation and mash-up, this suite of works uses found material as its basis: videos advertising fragrances by brands such as Dior, D&G, Dunhill, Givenchy etc. This genre is characterised by luxury, stereotypes and sexuality. By subjectifying the works via an process abstraction, certain essences and surfaces are both revealed and promoted.
Download: Swank (Quicktime video 2.8mb)
View at Utube: Swank
Download Max/MSP/Jitter stand-alone applications for Mac: Swank (11mb) Swell (7.6mb) Homme (23mb) Dunghill (26mb) Femme Ultra (16mb)
| THE SWING |
Participatory post audio/visual installation
The Swing, Bruce Mowson, 2007-8.
Blindfold, marine rigging and hardware, 25lt water container, vintage fabric, rubber and structural timber.
In its current iteration, The Swing is designed to accomodate audience members weighing 50-80kg. The water container acts as a counterweight to the rider and the seat moves gently in all directions: side-to-side, up and down, back and forth. The motion of the work is affected by a double-feedback loop system, wherein the motion of one body affects the other, which in turn transmits force back. This produces a sensation akin to being on the sea. The work affects the body's inner ear, and specifically the labyrinth, which is comprised of fluid filled tubes which register motion in space. This part of our anatomy allows us to stand upright, and to see with stable vision.
The work was produced via research into sensation and art, a topic which arose as I sought to find connections between music and visual art. Though there is no recorded sound in the work, the very subtle motion of the work opens up a suble listening space where the ambient soundscape is animated by our silent drifting and turning within it.
Download: Quicktime video (3.3mb)
View at Utube: The Swing
| THE SHOWER |
Architechure/sound installation
The Shower, Bruce Mowson and Pia Ednie Brown, 2003-5.
Latex, steel, rubber, perspex, mdf, pressure sensor, lights, CD player, custom audio gate, speakers and amp.
Within the latex skin lurks a minimalistic noisescape, inspired by La Monte Young and Alvin Lucier's explorations of sono-acoustic space. The Shower was commissioned by Experimenta Media Arts for the 'House of Tomorrow' project, but withdrawn at the last minute due differences between the artists and curators.
Download: Quicktime video (4.9mb)
View at UTube: The Shower
| BARNEY |
Immersive Installation and Software project.
Bruce Mowson, 2006.
Generative audio-visual installation, dimensions variable.
Influenced by Op Art and musical Minimalism, Barney is a generative audio-visual work, run from a computer using max/msp/jitter software, and including an immersive soundtrack.
Download: Quicktime video (3mb)
View at UTube: Barney
| Melting Moments |
Immersive Installation and Software project.
Generative audio-visual installation, dimensions variable.
“I would describe the work as hypnotic, mesmerising and captivating – and this is the works meaning, to be captivating and mesmerising. What I’m interested in is under what circumstances, or in what personal spaces are such captivated states possible.”
Download (Max/MSP/Jitter standalone application 15.4mb)
| Static Tones |
Audio CD
"An intricate, yet unchanging mass of sound comprised of tiny repeating fragments. Although unchanging, the static tones create an illusion of movement and change, with perceptual distortions generated by the listener." Ed Osborn, Stretcher Archives, 2001.
Download: MP3 800kb
| Absorption |
Installation
Zippered, 2005, Installation View.
Le Corbusier Chaise, computer generated sound and video, screen, headphones.
A soundtrack of groans and soft moans, somewhere between pleasure, admiration and discomfort, accompanies the perceptual-plays of the color-field video.
Read about Zippered in the chapter 'Absorption': Download full exegesis (900kb)
| Flesh Antenna |
Sound/Installation
Flesh Antenna, 2002.
Customised radios, steel wire, FM transmitter and antenna.
Presented by Experimenta Media Arts in "Prototype" at the Black Box, Victorian Arts Centre, Melbourne.
Initially commissioned by the 2002 Next Wave Festival.
A field of skull-ish radios... glaring, they hiss at you as you disrupt their transmission field.