Athens Digital Arts Festival 2018
Audiovisual, Exhibition
2018
Back in 2018 I collaborated with my partner Eaton Crous and my mate Kris Cook on some audiovisual pieces that were born out of experimentation and learning.
At the time Eaton was learning a software called Houdini, and Kris was learning X-Particles for Cinema 4D. Through their process of learning they were rendering out lots of tests which I was then bringing into Quartz Composer and experimenting with adding realtime audio reactive elements to them.
When Athens Digital Arts Festival announced an open call for works under the theme of Singularity Now, we decided to submit some pieces to the Video Art category. I was pleased when Bot Existential was selected to be presented at Megaron - the Athens Concert Hall from 24th – 27th May 2018. Importantly it showed me how art can emerge from these artifacts you create as you learn, explore and experiment.
“Bot existential is an audiovisual piece by Joëlle Snaith and Kris Cook that explores the possibility of artificial consciousness and machine impressions of the environment. The machine mind cycles franticly through memories and impressions as it learns, trying to understand and make sense of its purpose. These impressions can overload and overwhelm, constructing an understanding of the world and of itself that is both true and false. The soundtrack is written by electronic artist Killawatt.”
Technique
The approach is the same with all 3 pieces - I’m scanning a directory of videos and loading them into Quartz Composer on the BPM. I set up some audio reactive behaviours, did a visual mix to the audio and screen captured the final videos in one take.
loading clips into a Quartz Composer File
Experimenting with Kris & Eaton’s files
Part 3 - Bot Sleep
All video by Eaton Crous made with Houdini. Audio reactive effects & behaviours done with Quartz Composer and mixed in 2V-P, captured with Syphon in one take, no editing.
“Bot sleep is an audiovisual piece by Joëlle Snaith and Eaton Crous that explores the possibility of artificial consciousness and machine impressions of the environment. How would a machine process what it hears and sees - the sensations, vibrations and frequencies? Do these become dreams and hallucinations containing hidden meanings, that are extracted as it attempts to comprehend the world around it? The soundtrack is written by electronic artist Killawatt.”
Part 1 - Bot angst
All video by Joëlle Snaith made with After Effects / Trapcode Form & Mir. Audio reactive effects & behaviours done with Quartz Composer and mixed in 2V-P, captured with Syphon in one take, no editing.
“Bot angst is an audiovisual piece by Joëlle Snaith exploring the possibility of artificial consciousness and machine impressions of the environment. The machine must comprehend the dystopia in which it now exists. The world is broken, frightened and desolate. Ecosystems have been destroyed by human generations and a new system is required. The accompanying soundtrack is written by electronic artist Killawatt.”
