SPIN SYSTEMS IN SPATIAL AUDIO (2023)

Co-designed with Matthew Woodham. Generative sound in third-order ambisonics.
Work in progress – Initially presented at the 2023 IRCAM Forum, Paris.

This project considers explores how naturally occurring spin systems, such as vortices and eddies, might be considered a compositional force. Generative spin simulations are translated in real-time, and provide the framework within which the human voice – a whisper – is transformed. The performer’s voices are transported away from the body and mingle fluidly in space.

Expanding on the theory of hydrofeminist scholar Astrida Neimanis, this project employs the “logics” of spin systems with implications for identity in performance. “We experience ourselves less as isolated entities and more as oceanic eddies: I am a singular, dynamic whorl dissolving in a complex, fluid circulation. The space between ourselves and our others is at once as distant as the primeval sea, yet also closer than our own skin” (Neimanis, Bodies of Water).