Expresate

The purpose of this work is to give the user the possibility of expressing themselves through the microphone of their device. When you enter the page, all you will see is a black screen with text that says “Express yourself,” and a message asking if you want to enable your microphone. If you decide to accept, then you will have entered the work. Upon hearing your voice, the program will generate figures on the screen that react to the sound. This interaction translates into movements and changes in transparency and size of the shapes, which creates a visual result in real time.

This work is an invitation to the user to express themselves, speak, say what they feel and what they think: give them the space to escape from this reality full of stimuli and distractions. Pay attention, be immersed in the present moment. Connect with yourself and experiment, or just see what happens.

The production was inspired by artistic movements such as generative art and sound art. My main reference was John Cage, an avant-garde composer who explores working with sound and randomness, and in the Fluxus artistic movement, which seeks to directly involve the viewer with the work.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

Lately I began to develop a fascination with visual works that react to sound. One aspect that captivated me was their ability to hold my attention: I could spend long periods of time looking at the screen, sometimes playing the same sound in order to see what was happening. He was unable to look away, seeing how the elements moved in relation to the sound he was hearing. This experience was what gave rise to this work, although my intention was not to create a visual representation of any sound.

“Express” is intended to be an experience, and not an object of contemplation. In his text on art and new media, Fricke talks about the change that the conception of the artist has gone through with the arrival of contemporary art. He affirms that the viewer goes from being a mere observer of the work to being a participant and creator of it. In this sense, “Expressate” involves the user directly in the production: without their intervention, it would be nothing more than a black screen. Although it is known that the artist has made certain aesthetic decisions in the process, this role remains in the background, since the user’s participation is what makes the final result.

The realization of this work was focused on the process, especially on the implementation of the algorithms used. The movement of the cubes is generated by analyzing the microphone input. The qualities of the sound stimulus (volume, tone) are “translated” into visual qualities: color, movement, position in space. Cool colored cubes belong to low tones, while warm cubes belong to higher tones. In turn, the cubes increase and decrease in size in relation to the volume of the sound captured by the microphone.

Following Aira’s approach, “The Contemporary Artist continues to move forward, remains one step ahead, and puts his ingenuity and inventiveness into ensuring that his work contains an aspect, a side, a point, that remains hidden even from the most innovative and exhaustive reproduction technique.” Being an experience, this work becomes an unrepeatable and unreproducible event, since neither the visual result nor the emotions associated with the moment will be the same once the user reopens the page (if this happens).

Finally, I find it interesting to highlight this passage from the immaterial to the tangible. This work explores the relationship between the immaterial, such as sound, and the material, such as the cubes on the screen. This fusion seeks to provide an exalted and unique multisensory experience, which only makes sense with the user’s participation.

Literature

AIRA, César. (2013). Sobre el arte contemporáneo. Fricke, Christiane. (1999). Nuevos Medios.