From April 12th to the 28th 2024 I presented a self-curated art show called 'what' at Back Lane Studios (
backlanestudios.ca) in the Roncesvalles area of Toronto, Canada. The show featured many of my paintings and prints from the past decade but the centerpiece was an interactive installation called 'High Park Branches'. It is based on software written by me in C++ using OpenFrameworks, I used Blender to create the 3D models, Supercollider for sound, and a Kinect sensor to capture participant interaction. This is the next iteration of the same software used for the project 'Cusom Catastrophe' (
robgillthings.bandcamp.com/album/custom-catastrophe).
During the half-year prior to the show, I collected random tree branches that I found on the ground of High Park. I then brought them back to my studio where I produced proportionally accurate 3D models of them in Blender. These models were then used as objects in the installation. As participants drew nearer to the screen, with the sensor just below it, winds in a virtual onscreen environment picked up the branches and scattered them about. When the interaction was finished, the final configuration of branches served as the source material for paintings on canvas and paper, and prints. The collisions between branches triggered audio samples and/or tones that generated spontaneously formed compositions and that is what you hear here.
This is album five in the High Park Branches series and features playback of the interactive installation with the 'orchestral 1' set of audio material loaded. I used the 'orchestral 1' composition that you can hear in the HPB1 album (
robgillthings.bandcamp.com/album/high-park-branches-1-source) as source material. I separated each of the tracks of that composition into small 5-20 second samples and used them in the software.
Each of the recordings in the HPB albums are based on a white noise structure so the audio sounds the same throughout yet no two moments are alike, so you can understand the entire piece in an instant. There is no repetition or patterning.
High Park Branches project page:
robgillthings.net/projects-2/high-park-branches/
'what' event page:
robgillthings.net/shows/gallery-shows/what/
prints and paintings:
things.robgillthings.net/collections/high-park-branches
High Park Branches You Tube Playlist:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLqGt9hjnm73LKquC5zNG5-bcdgZxKLjQu
Custom Catastrophe project page:
robgillthings.net/projects/custom-catastrophe/
released April 21, 2024