Machine Song : Gesture 1
Jim Murphy (NZ/US)
Machine Song: Gesture 1 is the first in a series of sound sculptures that seek to extract sonic gesturality from materials through the use of mechanical apparatus. Recent trends in digital sound-making systems emphasize agent-based approaches wherein emergent sonorities arise from object-oriented interactions with an actant synthetic media. Machine Song: Gesture 1 seeks to make these systems physical, creating real-world situations inspired by what were once digital-only synthesis and sound-making approaches. By showcasing the non-abstracted chain of causality from which their sound/gestures are derived, the Machine Song series creates a shared environment in which the audience, the sound-making objects, and the actuated actant media share a common gesture-space.
Jim Murphy explores audiovisual art through an electromechanical lens. His sound artworks utilise motors, actuators, and electronics to create new sounds. Jim is particularly interested in machine gesture, the means by which mechanisms can affect motions that are meaningful and compelling to audiences, and he is most involved in the development of mechatronic sound artworks that highlight broad and expressive gestures to produce sounds that are clearly coupled with visual anticipatory gesture. He lives and works in Wellington, New Zealand and is a lecturer in Sonic Arts and Music Technology at Te Herenga Waka.