Untitled

Documentation of Web-Based Performance, 2020

In “Untitled,” I programmed an algorithm in p5.js that uses the brightness of my backyard to control a Seed function which continuously reorganizes all of the notes of Bill Evan’s “Peace Piece.” Evans originally wrote this song to convey a feeling of loneliness. In performing this song, he romanticizes the idea of loneliness into something beautiful. For me, it is his harmonies which accurately portray loneliness, and the composition which romanticizes it. 

In recomposing this song, I aimed to more accurately represent what separation during Covid-19 meant for me. In “Peace Piece,” Evans was heavily inspired by the impressionist classical musicians such as Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. These musicians, in turn, were inspired by impressionist paintings. In “Untitled,” I refer to impressionism in the use of a mundane landscape. The primary difference is that this landscape is very matter-of-fact, and does not attempt to romanticize or overly compose what it is, in ordinance with the continuous results of the audio. It is now only time and location which controls the composition.

This work is currently being exhibited in the virtual gallery: Afterimages