Qualia /ˈkwälēə/ noun
the internal and subjective component of sense perceptions, arising from stimulation of the senses by phenomena.
Site Specific
The impetus of this idea stems from the idiosyncratic nature of the Anderson Gallery building itself. The building’s age can be felt upon entering it. It’s hallways and gallery spaces hide a labyrinthine mix of backrooms, crawlspaces, false walls, and industrial architectural elements left over from the previous century. It’s many enclaves elicit the image of bowels and organs of a larger organism. There is almost an otherworldly horror and curiosity drawn forth by it’s organic nature, as if we’re seeing parts of it that we are not meant to. Qualia is a physical manifestation of those feelings. It relies on Anderson to provide context for its existence.
Organic, electronic
One of the key elements of this organic/electronic dichotomy is reflecting the variable nature of organic matter in the real world. We distinctly didn’t want it to just be a minimalist light installation. The interactive components allow us to channel that organic variability.
The sound is a second important factor in conveying the goal .Built around a digital model of the classic buchla carrier/modulator oscillator, the sound changes dynamically on an endless loop. Micro and macro sounds are blended into one and then split apart again. 4 sets of the complex oscillators are set to listlessly idle until they are triggered by the viewer's interaction, creating sounds that are neither fully synthetic or organic.
Max MSP is an incredibly powerful creative tool but its massive breadth causes its own problems. The sound design was the smoothest part to complete as we already had all of the pieces together shortly after we started. What proved to be the most difficult was getting the max patch and the interactive Arduino elements to play together. Hans spent hours trouble shooting the two different styles of code. There are surprisingly few examples on forums and in tutorial patches that were tailored to accomplish what we were trying to do.
In the abstract, each technical element is quite simple. There are interface points which use capacative sensing on copper foil to detect a touch. There are linear elements which detect a position along a line. These inputs modify sounds and their characteristics, as well as the speed, color, density, and direction of the lights. The difficulty lies in simultaneous cooperation of these elements. The interface data is an incoming stream of 16 or more values, updated several times a second, and the light characteristics are the same in the other direction. This is in addition to generating and modifying sound in real time. In total, there are more than 2,000 lines of code spread between 7 different Arduino microcontrollers, and hundreds of Max MSP signal processing objects. In addition to this, capacative sensing is not entirely precise and is prone to false signals or no signals at all if certain conditions are not correct.
click to mute
dbl-click unumte
For a better interactive experience, view this webpage on a desktop browser
Hover over the circles to interact with the sound
Construction and Installation
In the very early stages of planning we had a vision to use a particular space in the gallery, which we had selected for its location, dimensions, and relation to the piece. It later became apparent that the space we originally envisioned using would not be available, and we were assigned another space.
It was clear early on that the back room we were going to be in was too big. We wanted to have a more claustrophobic feeling with our final space. Our solution was to build a one sided "false" wall which would also provide us a convenient place to hide the electronic components that would have disrupted the immersion. The main directive was to make the experience as seamless as possible. We constructed a frame, hung drywall and filled joints. We textured and painted it to match the other three walls in the room, and made cut outs to allow the peculiar piping and other artifice of the Anderson to be part of the installation. All that is left to indicate there is anything beyond the wall is a 14" square access panel, as we loaded in all the large gear and sealed it in behind the wall.
Eric Eckhart, born in 1998 in Orlando Florida, is a visual artist, sound artist, and musician based out of Richmond, VA. He is a student in the VCUarts Department of Kinetic Imaging, and a contributor to the Little Dumbo art collective. Through the manipulation of video and sound using data-flow coding languages such as MAX/MSP and hardware-based modular synthesis, he creates immersive textural visuals and soundscapes for installation and performance. In both his work with sound and visuals he explores micro and macro environments, often cosmic or subterranean in nature, as well as his own relationship with concepts of life, death, home, and memory. After graduating in December 2020 he plans to explore what Richmond has to offer as a community in which his artwork could reside.
Hans Stahl, born in 1998 in Orlando Florida, is a visual artist, sound artist, and musician based out of Richmond, VA. He is a student in the VCUarts Department of Kinetic Imaging, and a contributor to the Little Dumbo art collective. Through the manipulation of video and sound using data-flow coding languages such as MAX/MSP and hardware-based modular synthesis, he creates immersive textural visuals and soundscapes for installation and performance. In both his work with sound and visuals he explores micro and macro environments, often cosmic or subterranean in nature, as well as his own relationship with concepts of life, death, home, and memory. After graduating in December 2020 he plans to explore what Richmond has to offer as a community in which his artwork could reside.
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