Studio composition : live audiovisualisation using emergent generative systems

The aim of this research is to explore new creative outcomes of the use of emergent generative systems as material in audio and audiovisual experimental art. The portfolio includes the following compositions: Construction in Self, Construction in Zhuangzi and Construction in Kneading, the last two each comprising of three separate pieces. The mathematical systems used are the Lorenz dynamical system and the Mandelbox fractal. Through considering their potential for emergence, the aesthetic possibilities that generative systems offer in the context of experimental computational art are explored. The approach is initially investigated in the audio domain in CiS, a generative electronic music work. CiZ and CiK, the two main sets of works that comprise the portfolio, then explore the technique of “live audiovisualisation”: the simultaneous sonification and visualisation of the same source of data in real-time. Aesthetic considerations of the use of data as sound and moving image and their combination is discussed with reference to research into auditory displays, experimental film and perception. The techniques used include my approach of “self-similar sonification”: the presentation of data as audio at multiple time-scales, including at audio rate by means of non-standard synthesis or audification. All the works are implemented in the programming environment Max/MSP/Jitter.