MADE IN CYLAND
ANNA FRANTS & MARINA KOLDOBSKAYA
DRUMPAINTING
Performance, 2007
Programming by Mikhail Chernov
Brushstroke artist Marina Koldobskaya
Collage artist Irina Vasileva
Percussion instruments, custom software, digital video projection
The interactive artwork “DRUMPAINTING” transforms live sound into moving image, realizing an idea of “colour music” on a modern technological level. Through a computer system devised and engineered by artists at CYLAND Media Lab, viewers play on a drum set to produce a visual unique to and created by their musical performance. As adaptable to any rhythm as it is to any off-rhythm notes, “DRUMPAINTING” has no restrictions in its ability to generate unlimited variations unique to each individual’s own beat.
Previous site specific installations have utilized various percussion instruments ranging from toy bongos to a full professional drum kit with high hat. In each instance, no matter how soft or loud, fast or slow, sophisticated or awkward, every note is transmitted to a computer. CYLAND Media Lab’s program then translates each sound into a corresponding image. The devised software coordinates an image with each note but also allows mixing, changes in colour and size on each channel (maximum 4) and effects such as multiplication, transparency, time delay and inversion.
Streams of images are mixed in real time by the means of custom interface creating a live visual melody embodying the sounds exuding from the public, any form of music or nonmusic that may.