︎
Design is good for you.

Creative Research

Curriculum Vitae

Instagram

LinkedIn


Ashley John Pigford
Professor
Department of Art & Design
+ Affiliated Faculty in
Fashion & Apparel Studies
@ University of Delaware

design@udel.edu

P’unk Avenue Active Intersection Generative Sound Installation




As a nod to the beauty of the banal, from February through April 2009, a camera recorded the activity at the intersection of E. Passyunk Avenue and Federal Street in South Philadelphia. This is the location of digital branding, strategy and design business P’unk Avenue. The amount of activity was translated into a constantly updating ‘musical’ composition that was broadcast as streaming audio. The audio composition was being broadcast 24/7 and the camera image was projected into the window of P’unk Avenue on select evenings.


Inspiration for this piece is based on my interests in translation and transposition of common experiences through digital mediation of ‘sense-data’. I was asked by Geoff DiMasi at P’unk Avenue, to propose something for the front window of their office. I became inspired by the very ‘Philadelphia’ street activity of this South Philly neighborhood. I wished to translate this activity into something that would counterpoint, or complement, this environment. I consider this piece a generative system that feeds off human activity to create sound.

Fundamentals
The system is created in Max/MSP and includes a Powerbook G4, Logitech webcam, Nicecast software, and a Shoutcast server (generously provided by surrosape.net). The webcam is mounted to the exterior of the building and feeds live video into max/msp. The fundamental tone ‘pulse’ is a translation of the words “Passyunk Avenue” into sound, 1 letter at a time, based on their position in the alphabet (i.e. “A” is C0, “B” is D0, etc.). The frequency of each ‘letter-tone’ is pulsed once a second (creating a 60 BPM tempo) and modulated (see below) over the course of 60 seconds. Each ‘letter-tone’ plays for 60 seconds until the system moves to the next letter, (the next fundamental frequency).

Frequency Modulation
Each second the software detects movement (amount of change in frame) and charts this data as 60-second frequency modulation (FM) envelopes, (6 envelopes total). Each FM envelope modulates the fundamental tone at a different frequency, creating complex tonality. Since the amount of frequency modulation is based on the amount of activity of the intersection, more activity means a more complex composition of sound.


© Ashley John Pigford, All rights reserved.