Inouk Demers

Virtual Breakout During the Outbreak June 6th Livestream

Virtual BreakOut During the OutBreak Videos [VBODOBV] III

Phassa

Given that this is an installation, the audio is an idealized collage of episodic events that can be triggered by the user’s interaction; specifically an infrared pen that ‘draws’ shapes on a projected screen, which in turn launches various animations, maps etc.
 
Some of the sounds represent our current situation – the clapping of quarantined residents of Madrid from their balconies to honor medical personnel; cargo ships in Marseille sounding their horns to accomplish the same gesture; Rohingya migrants seeking refuge, etc. It’s all tied together by the realization that our lives are fundamentally intertwined and we cannot afford to ignore one another.

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Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2020:
Phassa

Components: 4 speakers, touchscreen or infrared-enabled surface, projector, gauze projection screen, Max/MSP/Jitter software.

The proposed project is an interactive installation comprised of a vertical 4-channel audio configuration, a touchscreen, and possible additional image projection.

The installation incorporates ambient sound that is shaped by hand-drawn figures that participants can draw on the provided surface. These gestures directly shape the movement, spectral shape, speed and proximity of the installation sounds, as well as revealing images on screen that emerge from the drawn strokes. This allows a direct, tactile connection with fluid manifestations of line, sound, and image.

The project is inspired by a recent trip to Dunhuang, China, the site of over 500 hand-painted Buddhist caves from the Silk Road era. The extraordinary richness of line and iconography which fills every available inch of these caves reveals a time where people had a syncretic worldview, a profound sense of transience and of the interconnectedness of beliefs and cultures. The caves resonate with the energy of these paintings, radiating both inward and outward, not least through a profusion of fluid, vibrational lines, whose drawing was itself a devotional act. The installation is an attempt to use touch and line to arouse an intimate connection with elements of our current society (migration, communications, etc) through sound, image and gesture.