“Sonic Organism” by Janus Fouché

Title:

Sonic Organism

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Exhibiting Artist(s):



• Janus Fouché

Symposium:

• ISEA2018: 24th International Symposium on Electronic Art

Venue(s):

• Ushaka Aquarium and Beach, Durban, South Africa

Medium:

Performance

Artist Statement:

Sonic Organism is a generative audio composition: a living algorithm that exists in realtime entirely as a synthesized generative digital soundscape. It has a pulse, interconnected cellularstructure, and decision-making nerve-centre. The result is a set of unique musical compositions, with common threads running through, and repetitions within themes. The music-composing algorithm was installed in the aquarium, running on a laptop with a set of speakers, around a cylindrical fish tank as the visual focal point. The idea was to add a completely artificial being to the aquarium, to be observed as sound instead of, or complimenting, the visual creatures. Being generative, the piece consists of an artificial-intelligence algorithm calculating and playing synthesized sound, and is never truly repeated. Once the algorithm runs, the network functions as a synapse system, where adjacent cells are triggered over time and musical combinations and shapes emerge based on a balance of previous decisions and the synaptic layout.

Category:

• Performances
• Concert - Audio