Pile of Wires is a Long Beach electroacoustic ensemble focused on developing interactive and experimental music making practices. Use of laptops, projection, and electronic controllers, as well as the development of new sensors and controllers plays a central role to performance. As a collective, we aim to make electronic music more accessible to general audiences through creating visceral connections between what is seen and what is heard. Our repertoire spans from chamber ensemble works to multimedia installations, utilizing traditional electronic and new fabricated devices.
Artist Location: Long Beach, CA
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PARTICIPATION
soundpedro 2020 participation: N/A
Proposed work as accepted for soundpedro 2020:
Remnants is an installation and performance art hybrid. The first is a live video processing component. We will have four projectors projecting onto each of the four walls of the room we are in. We will have four cameras pointed in the direction of the projections, creating an infinite mirror effect. Max will be processing the video and randomly locking in place random parts of the video. Eventually, all of the video will be locked in place creating a mosaic effect. The picture will be comprised of visitors of walking past the projectors as well as the dancers. Throughout the night we will have one or more dancers moving through the space, adding to the mosaic in each projection. In addition, there is going to be a live music component. Throughout the night, we are going to have individual musicians come in and perform solo pieces that Pile of Wires have composed. The audio will be processed as well. During the installation, a microphone will capture the audio of each instrumental performance. Then after each performance, Max will randomly playback and process the audio. As more instrumental performances occur over the night, the processed playback will become more intense as more instruments add in. The audio will be played in quad with speakers in each corner of the room. The installation will collimate in the last hour or so, all the dancers will return for one final choreographed performance to the music that was recorded over the course of the installation.
Shuttle Audioscape A m b i e n c e
A m b i e n c e will feature ambient synthesizer music made in Max and modular synths and will feature audio samples from the landmarks around San Pedro.
[Pile of Wires] will put the name of the ensemble to the test. The work will be an evening length installation with interactive sensors and projections. The core of the piece will involve three laptop stations, each with their own interface and speakers. Each member of the ensemble will create their own patch in Max/MSP with the ability to send and receive MIDI and audio. These patches will essentially be giant sequencers, activating a variety of audio samples, synthesizers, MIDI events, and video synthesis. Each member of the ensemble will be connected to one another and will be sending and receiving data from the other members. This data will manipulate the sequence and events in each patch, creating an infinitely complex sequence that will transform and evolve the entire night. In addition: sensors connected to the laptops can be activated by audience members, which will further manipulate the sequence. Finally, all the sound and data will be channeled into a video manipulation algorithm, which will manipulate and synthesize video that will be projected onto the wall. The ensemble will collect audio and video samples around Sound Pedro and Angels Gate to use in the piece. The piece will create a thick and complex texture that will feature micro and macro changes, as to stay interesting to those who stay and watch, and those who visit many times over the course of the evening.