Mitja Hmeljak
Sketches of a Triptych
Description
Study for an audio visual trilogy; aiming at performance where the experience
of musical and visual art proceed in parallel.
Navigation Instructions
This piece is designed to be experienced as a sequence.
Part I: Prelude
The first part begins at an appreciable distance from an Earth-like planet,
slightly off-centered on the front wall of the CAVE. The viewpoint moves
automatically on a path approaching the planet; the planet's surface, covered
by clouds, then covers the entire front wall of the CAVE. Manual navigation
is re-enabled, allowing a dive into the planet's surface.
The music (a complete chorus of Dizzy Gillespie's A Night in Tunisia,
looped) increases in volume as the viewpoint approaches the planet.
Part II: Crescendo
The second part takes place within the planet's surface: there is an inner
translucent sphere centered within the planet, of approximately half the
size of the external surface. About a hundred entities move around the
planet's red core, rotating and spinning on different orbits. The surface
of the inner translucent sphere is opaque on the inside: once the user
enters this sphere, the external surface of the planet is not visible.
The entrance to the third part is the red core of the planet, which triggers
a one-directional jump to Part III.
The music (a medium-tempo dance beat with soft guitar riffs) increases
in volume from the external surface to the inner sphere. Within the inner
sphere, the volume is constant.
Part III: Periodicity
The third part takes place within a huge sphere. The viewpoint moves automatically
on a path which quickly reveals a few details of the scene: the external
sphere is dotted semi-randomly with several hundred spinning triangles.
In the center of the sphere, there is a large translucent rectangle; floating
on the top of the rectangle there is a second, smaller translucent square.
Both contain about five hundred triangles, placed on a grid; all the rectangles
spin about the horizontal axis, the spinning frequency varies with the
triangle's distance from the center of the rectangle: this motion, viewed
from a distance, produces a wavelike effect. Riding these waves, there
are three spheres on each one of the rectangles, rotating about the rectangle's
centers at different speeds.
To appreciate the geometry and the wave-like effect created by the triangle's
rotations, the viewpoint should be manually moved along the smaller square,
between the square and the bigger, lower rectangle, and moved away from
both of them, in order to be able to approach them as in a slow landing.
The music, with its wheel-like effects and electric bass dance rhythm,
hints at the periodicity of the whole structure at different levels. There
is a second, superimposed phrase, looping on the same chorus as the main
phrase of this Part, with a saxophone+trumpet riff increasing the loudness;
this second part is triggered on and off by the viewpoint's proximity to
the smaller translucent square; the first part decreases in loudness as
the viewpoint moves away from the smaller square platform.
mitja@indiana.edu
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