The 6 pieces on the original Process Color DVD (originally screened in Toronto’s F13 Gallery in 2007, and unseen since that time) are synaesthetic audio/visual combinations built using Argeiphontes Lyre, a program designed by Akira Rabelais which, among other things, has a function that can make simple but intriguing visual interpretations of audio signals. These interpretations appear on a vertical strip in the foreground of each video, while the background consists of randomly strobing, disorienting patterns and heavily blurred imagery seeping through a solid color. The sound pieces on this DVD consist only of one constant base frequency that is believed to be synchronous with that color, along with the sound of a processed human voice speaking the color’s name. The voices are heavily camouflaged so that the verbal information will be perceived on a more subliminal level. The theme of this piece is intense concentration, and the realization of how difficult it is, in the present information-saturated era, to focus conscious attention on an isolated thought / memory for even 5 seconds without being deluged with extraneous visual ‘noise’- remaining fixated on the flickering foreground graphic alone will probably be a challenge for most casual viewers.
Other than audio-visually representing the daily dance of concentration and confusion, this simple experiment is born out of an affinity for the Color Field artists’ insistence that “we start with color” (Rothko), and that human drama can be imparted onto even the most apparently ‘neutral’ forms- no visual or sonic ornamentation is needed for us to begin the intensely personal process of projecting our dreams and desires and elaborating on them. Unadorned color affords far fewer opportunities for obstruction of this process: no hackneyed political statements, no commercial exploitation, and none of the inconclusiveness that continues to plague creative enterprise this far into the 21st century. To further place things in a historical perspective, each of the six audio/visual pieces is named after an artist either reported to have experienced synesthesia, or to have worked towards the furthering of sight / sound synthesis in their own artistic undertakings. Synaesthesia, either adventitious or inherited, is a condition which often aids the creative process by allowing the creator to visualize notes, audio tones, letters of the alphabet and so on as raw color.
Individual tracks are as follows:
Agitation (Red, For Wassily Kandinsky) | Promethean Fire (Orange, For Aleksandr Nikolai Scriabin) | Scrying Stone (Yellow, for Brion Gysin)* | Aviary (Green, for Olivier Messiaen) | Azure Consonants (Blue, for Vladimir Nabokov) | Hi-Freq. Sine Surf (Violet, for Richard D. James)
Additional notes:
-The video was ripped from the .VOB files of the artist’s only available DVD copy. Those interested in obtaining a higher-quality version for exhibition should contact the artist directly
-extra inspiration provided from the Japanese ‘Scanning of Modulations’ compilation of videos by sound artists, and Nurse with Wound’s “Soliloquy for Lilith” album
Thomas Bey William Bailey is a mixed-media artist and author of the exploratory book ‘Micro Bionic’ on radical electronic music, as well as the forthcoming ‘Unofficial Release’ book dedicated to ‘handmade’ music practices. More information on available at www.belsona-strategic.com
*note- the soundtrack accompanying this piece was also recycled for the previous TBWB short video “Study for Test Tone and Retinal Burn,” honorable mention winner in the Spanish ‘Punto y Raya’ video art festival of 2007.
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