Monday 20 September 2010

Scrapple by Golan Levin




After researching the Internet about projects that coincide with performance and technical elements, I stumbled across this video that has been posted on YouTube which shows a unique performance of the Scrapple by Golan Levin. Ultimately, the one thing that I felt that was exceptional about the Scrapple is its diverse ability to enable the user to compose music through shapes.
Scrapple is an audiovisual installation which imitates and produces sound  through everyday objects being randomly placed along a 3 metre long table. The specific function of the table is to primarily act as an "active score" which has been designed to constantly scan the surface of the table where objects have been placed. From this, these objects are interpreted as sound producing marks which the table responds to them in real time. As well as this, a 4 second audio loop is produced from the table which enables the user to experiment with the Scrapple freely and to compose technical pieces. Nevertheless, the objects come in different shapes and sizes; ranging from square like shapes to flexible curves as this influences the user to create melodic or rhythmical phrases. Furthermore, video projections are displayed onto the Scrapple table which ultimately gives the user the feeling that they composing onto an interactive score.
As a result of this, the Scrapple has influenced and opened up new ideas for myself to experiment with through Music Performance and has shown me new possibilities. Throughout this year I myself would like to create a piece of work similar to Golan Levin which emerges the use of technology through a performance.