Dialogue of the Senses: Different Eyes
“Dialogue of the Senses” was the theme for an exhibit of student work from the Department of Performing Arts Technology, School of Music, Theater & Dance (May 2013). Alex Surdu titled his piece, “Different Eyes / I’m Standing in a Vroom.” He designed it for exhibition in the MIDEN, for aural as well as visual immersion. In Alex’s words:
With each passing day, we find ourselves gaining perspective from the places we go, the people we meet, and the world that we experience. We are ultimately, however, alone in our individual universes of experience. With this piece, I attempt to bridge this gap by immersing participants in an abstract virtual universe that utilizes isochronic pulses to stimulate different states of consciousness. If art was a device created by man to communicate perspective, then works of this nature are the next logical step in realizing art’s purpose: providing not just something to look at, but a way with which to look at it.
Another project related to remote performances involved a faculty member from the school of music who specialized in jazz compositions. He conducted a collection of performers remotely using methods similar to the dancers above. One unique challenge was the expressiveness and articulation of the composers hands and face. To solve this we placed additional markers on his face and hands so the remote musicians could identify his facial expressions and hand poses.