Elorm Kodzo Foli

Ms 127s: Harmony of light and Sound

Friday, April 08, 2005.

 

A look at John Whitney’s Approach to Dynamic Art:

 

Many people with closed eyes at a concert are “watching” the music, but after all these centuries, there still exists no universally acceptable visual equivalent to music.

 

John Whitney, a pioneer in musical art, was convinced that the videodisc’s ability to combine “microscopic sight and sound tracks of great technical efficiency and economy” was the cornerstone of what he called “another major media revolution” (13). He believed logistics and economics of the videodisc were enough to assure the popularity of the fusion of sight and music as an art form. This paper seeks to understand how his views shaped his approach to the arts and the concepts on which his complimentarily of light and sound are based.

In the opening quote extracted from his book, digital harmony, there is a perceived sense of frustration on Whitney’s part when he mulls over the absence of a “universally acceptable visual equivalent to music. For Whitney, there is no question that such an equivalent should exist simply because, “the eye enjoys design equally as well as the ear”, sharing any “inward experience of architectonic spatial constructions” and thus there should be noticeable pleasurable counterparts for the eyes where they exist for the ears (14). To him, “architecture in motion lies at the root of our enjoyment of music.” These perceptions drove John Whitney to find the characteristics necessary to qualify something as a piece of visual music just as music can easily, at least subjectively, be differentiated from noise.

He makes an argument that Theodore Gericault’s ‘The Raft of the Medusa’ “regardless of its implicit dynamics still exists passively fixed in time.”(37) The existence of a truly dynamic art form will, in his opinion, fill a void currently present in the arts.

The idea of creating dynamic visual arts, with possible connections to music is not novel; however the manipulation of light at rates comparable to the speed of sound in air with the aid of the computer is what makes this motion finally achievable. An artist can finally evaluate his or her own work in real time, rather than relying on frames developed in the lab. Whitney envisions a day when the visual composer may be able to edit both the music and the animations simultaneously in an unprecedented manner, and one is inclined to agree that this day is close by if it indeed has not already been reached.

The problem of how to guide these motions musically was the hard part. Even with the technology ripe for the production of visual music, the manner in which the visual music may be mapped to reflect their audio counterparts seems uncertain. Whitney states that to achieve this, there has to be a controlled use of differential motion, color, and repetition yet her lays more of an emphasis on motion than on color in the depiction of visual melodies and tones.

Whitney acquired concepts from poetry, dance and music to guide his development of musical harmony thus his conclusion that there is a need for some form of metrical order and rhythmic patterns in visual music. His investigations led to his discovery of the relationship between resonance and harmony. He believed that structured motion begets emotion thus with the right formulae, one could effuse the right emotion from an audience.

Whitney admits in his book that he is slightly baffled by the extent to which color plays in the harmony of light, but seems to use it rather effectively in his production of the matrix.

               One commendable aspect of the Matrix is its accompanying music by Padre Antonio Solar. The soft melodious music allows the audience to sink into a relaxing mood and also enables us to be more willing to concentrate on the visual dynamics on the screen.

               The characteristic black background allows for the emphasis of all colors in the piece. The piece commences with a white outlined square which grows and decays in size as it moves in a circular pattern. Its motion is accentuated by the horizontal and vertical orange, red, pink and white lines that form a spectrum in the same plane as the square.

A yellow streak of lines traces the path of the box, but being a secondary element, tends to move at a speed greater than that of the box. Its shape allows for the simulation of a fluid movement. At the same time that this yellow streak appears there is a more subtle purple streak which seems to be traveling along a path symmetrical to the yellow one. The different shapes of the streaks however give it a more natural feel by making it appear asymmetrical

               With the rise in the tension of the music, we notice a concentration of the lines in the background, and a curvature appearing in the centre of the piece. This tension is also emphasized by the appearance of a wide collection of lines which tend to gravitate towards each other. When the tension is released, the pink line disappears and the yellow streak splits with the individual elements taking opposing paths, symbolising freedom in some form.

               We then see the introduction of 10 yellow outlined boxes arranged in ascending size. The background changes from black to white as a more subtle part of the music approaches. The boxes seem to take a path much like the earlier streaks, while other groups of boxes appear in a "pulsating" fashion, simulating a beat or rhythm.

We notice the background changing from yellow, red, purple then to blue. There is that one red box within a group of subtle colored boxes which captures one’s attention and makes the movements more pleasing. The piece ends with a black background and white boxes tumbling down from the top of the screen, with the screen going blank and allowing the audience to get out of the experience before the music stops.

Whitney’s ideas are valid and seem relatively sound and proven, but if one is to sit back for a moment to analyze his concepts there might be a few unanswered questions.

For instance, whereas Whitney sees the limited dynamism of the Raft of Medusa as a problem, one might easily argue that it is this strife for motion in a static environment that generates tension and thus the art. By adding motion to such a piece, the raft will meet the rescue boat, ending the tension in the artwork. This argument will be valid in the evaluation of poetry like E.E Cumming’s “May I Feel”. If the poem is replaced by a vivid narration of what the two lovers feel for each other, the artistic components are immediately lost. Dynamic art will thus just become a new form of art, just like cubism and will not necessarily have the “revolutionary” status that Whitney claims.

In addition to this, the idea that different cultures and societies have different types of music some of which may not necessarily be pulsatile like the western classics will imply that visual motion accompanying these pieces should also be free to disobey the rules of repetition and tension that he so meticulously laid out. If this is so, then the eye might be inclined to appreciate random visual motions just as much as those calculated.

Although these questions linger, I am of the view that John Whitney is right, and it is only a matter of time before lumia revolutionizes the entire art world.

 

 

 

 

 

References:

John Whitney. Digital Harmony. Peterborough New Hampshire: McGraw-Hill Publications, 1980.