A series of small wire objects (many of them uninteresting): Object Two

BACKGROUND: This work was a new composition for the audiovisual system previously developed with S.McFarlane (funded by Arts Victoria). In 2014, through collaboration with T.Brodel the software system was modified to explore audio reactivity, and this the led to questions of how audiences experience Chion's principle of Synchresis. A new piece of music was composed, which was initially designed to use sounds to trigger light position, hue and brightness. Once the lighting design was complete, the music was then adjusted and sound designed so across the arc of the composition, the initially established audiovisual relationships could be subverted. SIGNIFICANCE: This work was commissioned by Experimenta, Australia's leading exhibition of contemporary Media Art. The Melbourne exhibition was open for three months, and the biennial will be tour across Australia's premiere contemporary galleries for the next two years. CONTRIBUTION: The research questions ranged from practical design questions - eg.How can the audiovisual control system be adapted in order for sound to control light? They included multisensory aesthetics - eg. What are the issues to be resolved in the audience experience of syneasthetic audiovisual relationships? Given the reported limits of synchresis (yielding diminsihing returns over time), what methods can be used to shift relationships from feeling 'decorative' to 'meaningful'? But the main question related to Russell's Circumplex Model of Emotion - and the suspicion as to the objectivity of arousal versus the subjectivity of valence. (ie. That responses to moments of audiovisual intensity would always trigger high arousal states, but whether the associated valence was positive - exhilarated - or negative - terrified - would depend on the audience member and the personal histories they brough to bear on such an abstract experience. Audience responses - anxiety through to hilarity - confirmed this hypothesis.