It is a very compelling idea to me to create something generative and non-deterministic, that makes subjective experiences even more unique. And while there does not need to be a reason for that, I still started wondering why that is. What is it that interests me in this? Is it maybe the feeling of creating something alive and dynamic? Or is it the sense of cooperation with other things and beings? Or maybe it is just a spark of artistic insecurity that manifests in the urge to not have total control over ones creations? It could also be the desire to bring some randomness into a never truly non-stochastic, digital world. But most probably, it is a bit of all of those, and more.
These questions might say more about myself than about my vision for the installation, but that is where I think I need to start. I assume that an artistic vision is the reason why an artist creates something, which makes it extremely personal and will therefore in many cases never be known to the public. However, my current study program is called Sound Design and the discipline of design implies a thoughtful intention for creations. Additionally, my project is developed in an academic environment, which calls for an approach that is grounded in research. While this does indeed sound a little bit constraining, I do not think it is necessarily contradicting or even too confining. In the next paragraphs I will lay out what drives me to create The Emotional Space and conclude with what I expect from it.
I already touched upon the possible roots of the idea of creating a non-deterministic system. Another aspect that I warmly welcome in any project that I take on is interaction. I always had a fascination for non-natural things that react to me, as in sensing-actuating. I fell for automation engineering when I was 15 and stuck with that field for about 8 years. That fascination is still somewhere in me and might drive me to work with sensors to create models that describe a part of our real world.
A third aspect that strongly interests me are simply humans. I am very eager to learn more about why we act like we do, since I see that as a reflective process that leads us to understand ourselves better and in turn hopefully act more thoughtful. In this installation I will be able to gain a big amount of quantitative and qualitative data that gives me the opportunity to analyze it for certain patterns. Do different instruments or sounds encourage certain movements? Do people move more if someone moves strongly? I am not sure whether and to what extent I will follow this research path through, but I could think of a big number of questions to try to answer with a dataset like the one I might get from this. An additional outcome is a musical piece per session that could be analyzed qualitatively.
Everything up until now described where my vision for The Emotional Space came from. Based on those roots, it is easier for me to frame what my vision looks like. I want to create an installation that leads to such a subjective and unique experience that visitors themselves feel like artists. I want people to use the interactive possibilities as an invitation to interact with one another. I want the soundscape to be dynamic and fluid enough to fit into various atmospheres but at the same time create them. I want the room to be an attraction that one forgets about while experiencing it.
This is my vision as of now – but I do not presume that it will not change throughout my project. I do however think that my vision’s roots already provide a good basis for whatever my vision will still become. And I am exited for the path that lies ahead.
