The Company is a sound reactive light installation, a collaboration between myself and designer Roland Ellis.
A suspended surface of 76 tungsten lamps form a catenary arch, playing host to live performances and revisiting the sounds of the 19th century East River industrial icons. Live adaptation of the soundscape reintroduces routine and mechanical process to the space.
The piece intends to bring back an atmosphere informed by the architectural legacy, a machine being delivered to occupy the space that was once a bustling industrial environment.
A custom software developed in Cinder control the installation using audio sampled in real time. The sound analysis is computed with Ableton Live using a Max For Live patch developed by Henrik Ekeus, it performs the Fast Fourier Transform, beat detection, attack detection and sound filtering, communicating with the custom software through an OSC connection.
The audio input is used by the custom software to modify the behaviour and the properties of objects in a 3D environment containing an exact replica of the actual installation, the position and shape of the objects as well as other properties like speed and intensity, eventually determinate the brightness of each light bulb individually addressed.