Dots such a beautiful music idea
A work of art using motion capture technology to track the complex movements of musicians’ hands will transform Fitzgerald’s Park into a “musical magic lantern” tomorrow.
‘The Music Box’ was created by artists Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly working with the Cork Youth Orchestra (CYO) and Sample-Studios.
Inspired by scientific research related to perception of biological movement by Swedish psychophysicist Dr Gunnar Johansson, the artists captured data from 4 members of MTU School of Music’s Siciliana quartet as they performed the 4th movement from Dvorak’s ‘American quartet’ while wearing sensors on their body.
The artists used a Perception Neuron 3 to create the piece, one of the newest inertial motion capture suits available, a compact and lightweight apparatus that allows the musicians to move and play freely.
They collaborated with London based programmer Levan Tozashvili to produce the final edited films.
The piece will turn the 4 musician’s movements, directed by Tomás McCarthy, conductor of CYO, into luminous dots that dance in time to the music, describing the movements with “loops and whirls”.
The artwork, presented in the Lord Mayor’s Pavilion in Fitzgerald Park, launches tomorrow, Friday, and will remain on view over the Christmas period.
The artists have been working on the theme for over a decade, recently presenting a piece studying the movements of world-renowned conductor Sir Simon Rattle at the Barbican Centre in London.
“The lyrical movements of musicians has been an evolving theme in our work for many years,” explains artist Anne Cleary. We have dreamed of composing a full orchestra entirely made of dots to make these movements visible to others.
“It is such a fabulous opportunity to work with CYO and Sample-Studios this winter to bring us a step closer to our dream.”
Anne Cleary and Denis Connolly share their time between Ireland and Paris.
They are currently engaged in the Eco Showboat project, an ambitious endeavour to raise awareness around climate change through the arts. Their work focuses on looking – how every person perceives the world from a singular perspective.
Recent exhibitions by Anne and Denis projects include a project on ‘Art and Neuroscience’ with David Byrne (New York, 2017); ‘Self Perceptions’ at the Tate Modern (London, 2018); and a commission from the Barbican Centre exploring movements of conductor Sir Simon Rattle (London, 2018).
‘The Music Box’ was made possible by the support of the Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund.