w[i]nd

w[i]nd is an interactive and generative audiovisual composition/installation in procedural and orchestrated space. Headphones are recommended. The interactions are very subtle! 

This project aims to be a rich and immersive experience in a first-person virtual environment. The installation brings sound, images and interactions together at scale to create a participatory and dynamic audiovisual work.

Wander through an array of aerophones created by generative image synthesis and an electroacoustic soundscape of physically modelled synthesis and processed acoustic samples. Each time you enter w[i]nd from the start screen some sonic aspects of the composition/installation will be regenerated. Others will remain fixed, but will interact differently with the regenerated elements. 

First person motion, underlying algorithmic parameters and triggers on exhibits are used as a mechanic to influence the sonic density and character of the experience. Explore, move, be still. 

Among other things, the work explores open sonic form, timbre and character in non-linear interactive experiences and contributes to research into the use of sound and sounding objects as an approach to presence and immersion, orientation, navigation, interaction and “ergodic musicking” (Oliva 2019) in virtual environments.

Effort is required to navigate the work’s fragmented audiovisual landscape and the user plays a participative role in the construction of their experience of the work as they traverse space, blurring the role of composer and performer in the reconfiguration of soundscape.

w[i]nd controls:

[o] open/close options panel to restart, quit and change volume
[w,a,s,d] to walk [+ shift to run], mouse/trackpad to rotate view

Please be patient while w[i]nd generates the installation ; )

w[i]nd’s images were created with StyleGAN generative image synthesis trained on https://collections.ed.ac.uk/mimed dataset

The features in the images that are generated are at times smeared and simplified, at others glitched, complex and distorted, or liquid and abstract. Overall there’s a painterly quality in the colour, stroke and texture to the generated images that reflects impressionist modes of music and sound.

w[i]nd's physically modelled sound samples were created with a range of tools, including http://www.ness.music.ed.ac.uk/target-systems/brass-instruments

The physically modelled sound samples were created as a sonic response to the visual qualities of the generated images, both in terms of their likely acoustic character as simulacra of woodwinds or brass instruments, but also in respect of the aesthetic properties and features of the images so that pitch, amplitude and timbre are unstable, with rapid spectromorphological shifts between sustained material, sliding tones and fluttered and transient gestural articulations.  The work also makes use of processed and untreated recordings of wind instruments to further extend the sonic character of the work.

w[i]nd was created by Jules Rawlinson, 2020 http://www.pixelmechanics.com 

Full credits for creative commons resources used are available in the readme.txt in the downloads.