Fragmentation

Alberto Novello

Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

• Year: 2012
• Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.

Abstract:

Program notes: In this piece we explore the personality of the ``post-modern man''. Exposed to aggressive stimulation and overwhelming data streams, he must make important choices to follow a rational ``mind path'' while his time quickly runs out. The performer, impersonating the post-modern man, wears an electro-encephalographic headset that detects his mind activity. The analysis of its output reveals the power of the performer's three thoughts which are connected to forward movement, turn left, and turn right in the virtual maze projected on a screen. Despite the distracting external forces, embodied by the sound and flickering visuals, the performer must remain paradoxically calm to generate the correct states of mind that let him navigate his way out of the maze. Every time the performer crosses a red boundary in the maze, he gets closer to the exit, and a new stochastic musical scene is triggered. The time and structure of the composition is thus entirely determined by the choices and concentration of the performer. Composer(s) Credits: Alberto Novello Instrumentalist(s) Credits: Alberto Novello (music, EEG analysis, top visuals), Emmanuel Elias Flores (frontal visuals), Honza Svasek (Butoh, EEG control), E. McKinney (photography) Artist(s) Biography: Alberto Novello a.k.a. JesterN studied piano and double bass at the Conservatory of Udine, graduated in Physics at the University of Trieste, he completed in 2004 the master ``Art, Science and Technologies'' at the Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble, France, under the guidance of J.C. Risset, and C. Cadoz. He was teacher of electronic music composition at the Conservatory of Cuneo, Italy. From 2004 to 2009 he worked at the Philips Research, Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the field of Music Perception and Music Information Retrieval with several publications in international conferences and journals. In 2009 he received a PhD degree at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. He attended the Mater of Sonology under the guidance of Paul Berg, Joel Ryan, and Richard Barret. Since 2004 he produced several electronic audio visual pieces assisting among others Alvin Lucier, Trevor Wishart, and Butch Morris. His pieces can be found on his website: http://dindisalvadi.free.fr/. Honza Svasek was born in 1954 in the Netherlands. After his studies he moved to Copenhagen were he became a graphic designer. Then he worked as computer professional and became a UNIX/Linux expert. In present he is a visual artist and performer. Honza started his research of Butoh 5 years ago. He studied with Butoh performers such as Itto Morita, Atsushi Takenouchi, Ken May, Yumiko Yoshioka,Yuko Ota, Imre Thormann. Currently he is studying with Rhizome Lee at the Himalaya Subbody Butoh School. http://Honz.nl Emmanuel Elias Flores is a media designer and software artist based in the Netherlands. He studied music and cinema in Mexico and Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL). His work is centered around the idea of exploring different types of cinematic experiences and the enhancement of new narrative forms which bridge technology, art and perception. His work has been presented on a wide range of formats: from audiovisual pieces for electronic music, opera, dance and live cinema sets, to the design of public installations and interactive applications for mobile devices. In parallel to his creative activities he has worked as a developer and IT/video consultant for different commercial and art enterprises and as a programmer for portable devices. www.emmanuelflores.net Concert Venue and Time: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Wednesday May 23, 7:00pm

Citation:

BibTeX Entry:

  @incollection{nime2012-music-Novello2012,
 abstract = {Program notes:

In this piece we explore the personality of the ``post-modern man''. Exposed to aggressive stimulation and overwhelming data streams, he must make important choices to follow a rational ``mind path'' while his time quickly runs out. The performer, impersonating the post-modern man, wears an electro-encephalographic headset that detects his mind activity. The analysis of its output reveals the power of the performer's three thoughts which are connected to forward movement, turn left, and turn right in the virtual maze projected on a screen.

Despite the distracting external forces, embodied by the sound and flickering visuals, the performer must remain paradoxically calm to generate the correct states of mind that let him navigate his way out of the maze. Every time the performer crosses a red boundary in the maze, he gets closer to the exit, and a new stochastic musical scene is triggered. The time and structure of the composition is thus entirely determined by the choices and concentration of the performer.

Composer(s) Credits:

Alberto Novello

Instrumentalist(s) Credits:

Alberto Novello (music, EEG analysis, top visuals), Emmanuel Elias Flores (frontal visuals), Honza Svasek (Butoh, EEG control), E. McKinney (photography)

Artist(s) Biography:

Alberto Novello a.k.a. JesterN studied piano and double bass at the Conservatory of Udine, graduated in Physics at the University of Trieste, he completed in 2004 the master ``Art, Science and Technologies'' at the Institut National Polytechnique of Grenoble, France, under the guidance of J.C. Risset, and C. Cadoz. He was teacher of electronic music composition at the Conservatory of Cuneo, Italy. From 2004 to 2009 he worked at the Philips Research, Eindhoven, Netherlands, in the field of Music Perception and Music Information Retrieval with several publications in international conferences and journals. In 2009 he received a PhD degree at the Technische Universiteit Eindhoven. He attended the Mater of Sonology under the guidance of Paul Berg, Joel Ryan, and Richard Barret. Since 2004 he produced several electronic audio visual pieces assisting among others Alvin Lucier, Trevor Wishart, and Butch Morris. His pieces can be found on his website: http://dindisalvadi.free.fr/.

Honza Svasek was born in 1954 in the Netherlands. After his studies he
moved to Copenhagen were he became a graphic designer. Then he worked as computer professional and became a UNIX/Linux expert. In present he is a visual artist and performer. Honza started his research of Butoh 5 years ago. He studied with Butoh performers such as Itto Morita, Atsushi Takenouchi, Ken May, Yumiko Yoshioka,Yuko Ota, Imre Thormann. Currently he is studying with Rhizome Lee at the Himalaya Subbody Butoh School. http://Honz.nl

Emmanuel Elias Flores is a media designer and software artist based in the Netherlands. He studied music and cinema in Mexico and Sonology at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (NL). His work is centered around the idea of exploring different types of cinematic experiences and the enhancement of new narrative forms which bridge technology, art and perception. His work has been presented on a wide range of formats: from audiovisual pieces for electronic music, opera, dance and live cinema sets, to the design of public installations and interactive applications for mobile devices. In parallel to his creative activities he has worked as a developer and IT/video consultant for different commercial and art enterprises and as a programmer for portable devices. www.emmanuelflores.net

Concert Venue and Time: Lydia Mendelssohn Theatre, Wednesday May 23, 7:00pm},
 address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.A.},
 author = {Alberto Novello},
 booktitle = {Music Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 day = {21-23},
 editor = {Georg Essl and Brent Gillespie and Michael Gurevich and Sile O'Modhrain},
 month = {May},
 publisher = {Electrical Engineering \& Computer Science and Performing Arts Technology, University of Michigan},
 title = {Fragmentation},
 year = {2012}
}