Thursday, March 16, 1:00 PM Lambton Studio A
Light Poems
Riaz Mehmood
la voix des anciens
Anthony Giglio
FREE Admission
Light Poems
Light Poems is an interactive new media installation where the content is directly affected, changed and created by viewers’ presence and their gestures and motion. Upon first entering the space, the viewer sees a projection of seemingly random alphabets constantly moving across the screen. When the viewer come closer to the screen, and is in the range of sensors, words will slowly gather and form a poem. If she moves too quickly or abruptly, the words will disperse. If their movements are subtle, they will be rewarded with another poem. The poems for this project are generously shared by local poets. Technical Details: For this project, the computer receives the sensor data and it runs on an algorithm and logical program that detects and separates human form – or human forms if more than one person is detected in the range of sensors – in the scene. Analyzing the change of light from the previous frame and with the current video frame, the computer logic can decipher the amount, speed and direction of motion and pinpoint its position in space.
The generation of poems and words on the screen is random and is controlled by the programmed logic which looks at the stored database of poems and depending on the sensors reading, picks text and place, animate and arrange it on the screen.
la voix des anciens
This piece is an interpretation of Pérotin’s setting of Beata Viscera, a Latin text written by Phillip the Chancellor. Using a combination of freeze effects, delays, harmonizers, and vocoders, multiple voices are synthesized by the soloist to create a thick and evolving texture. The voices are then sent to two playback systems, the Choir and the Room. The Choir system is a set of discrete, dry (no reverb) audio outputs for each voice. The Room playback system uses an abstract spatialization tool, Manifold-Interface Amplitude Panning (MIAP), to mix-down and convolve the Choir outputs with HRTF impulse responses and a collection of reverbs. Due to the implementation of the MIAP spatial sound control, the output of the Room can be easily modified to meet the requirements of the performance space.
Anthony Giglio holds a Bachelor of Music from the University of Windsor and a Diploma in Audio Recording Technology from The Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology (OIART). While attending the University of Windsor, Anthony was a Research Assistant for the Noiseborder Ensemble. Now living in Saskatoon, SK, he is an Event Technology Director for PSAV, as well as a freelance audio engineer, trumpet player, and arranger.
Riaz Mehmood’s artistic oeuvre encompasses a range of practices including performance, video, photography and new media. His research explorations straddle several streams, and his practice often visits themes of identity, history, technology, and the acquisition of knowledge. Riaz holds an MFA from the University of Windsor (2012), and completed the Integrated Media program at the Ontario College of Art and Design (2005), and BSc Civil Engineering from the University of Engineering and Technology, Pakistan (1993). He has participated in several international and national artist residencies and workshops, and has earned a number of grants, scholarships, and awards over the years. Riaz has also been involved with a number of artist-run centres and served on the boards of SAVAC and articule. His works have been shown internationally, including the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Egypt, Korea, Indonesia and Pakistan.
-- Photo by Bela Varga
