Origin

 A metaphor of child-like motion is at the heart of this projection design; an invisible child is stacking and knocking over blocks, sometimes wreaking intentional havoc, sometimes doing her best to make an orderly stack, sometimes absently knocking things over. It’s a metaphor for what we all do throughout our adult lives, too; but the things we wreak havoc on, stack neatly, or accidentally ruin are use a bit more literal in childhood, and a bit more abstract as we become “adults.” And: the consequences are sometimes different (and, perhaps less often than we imagine).

I’ve been thinking for a few years about how visual movement and interaction can create sound. And, of course, as a musician, it is typically the movements of my body — hands, arms, sometimes feet — that are the sound-makers, strumming, drumming, hitting keys, or even moving and clicking a mouse. But as I continue to explore animation that emerges from a physical simulation in a computer, I’ve become curious about how those same processes that create generative imagery (simulating wind, water, falling, tumbling, or spontaneous human or animal movement) might become sound-makers in themselves. Perhaps a little naïvely, my explorations to date have involved my animated objects making sound by bumping into each other. And, perhaps all music could be reduced, at a certain level, to people or things bumping into things that make sound when bumped into. It seems that we humans are on some deep level fascinated with things crashing into each other, tumbling down, and simply obeying the laws of physics. Even more so when they reward us with sounds. And perhaps even more so when those laws of physics become plastic in the ways that (so far) only computer simulations allow...

Annex Dance Company
Dancers: Kristin Alexander, Julie Clark, Aimee Gwynne
Choreography: Kristin Alexander
Music & Projections: John J.A. Jannone