VARIATIONS VI

Organized by Julia Miller, Variations VI was a performance of John Cage's Variations VI score that included Lee Blalock, Anna Friz, Eric Leonardson, Jullia Miller, Alyssa Moxley, Enid Smith, Will Soderberg, and myself on December 5, 2012 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago's Neiman Center.

From Julia Miller's website:

For a plurality of sound systems (any sources, components and loud-speakers)

The first performance included electronic circuitry, microphones, radio, tape and a television set. The materials consist of a page with a straight line and 2 transparencies. The first transparency contains 12 short straight lines an 38 triangles. The other tranparency contains 57 short bisected lines (90 degrees) and 114 half circles with diameters. The triangles represent loudspeakers, the bisected lines represent components (exclusive of mixers, triggering devices, antennas etc. Inclusive of amplifiers, pre-amps, modulators and filters) and the half circles indicate the sound sources. The lines are used for the placement of the sound sources.

By cutting up all needed lines and symbols and superimposing these elements a program can be obtained."

Photos by Rosa Menkman.

Cage's original Variations VI called for the creation of performance scores through the chance operation of dropping various symbols onto a piece of paper. Using this process, I generatred three compositions, customizing them to performative elements of my VGA Audio/Video Synthesizer for a two-hour long set.

Three scores generated for different elements of my VGA Audio/Video Synthesizer

Using the symbols Cage calls for as visual source material, voltages sent to the red, green, and blue pins of an array of VGA CRT monitors, and low-frequency sine waves sent to DIY electromagnets within them were altered according to the scores, with additional sonic elements and feedback loops integrated at different moments. With multiple performers contributing to the physical, sonic, and visual space as a whole, the entire performance improvisationally reacted to the constantly changing environment within the score parameters.

Documentation of my visual output.

Though planned independently of it, the event occured the opening day of the 2012 GLI.TC/H Festival.

Photo by Daniel Rourke

I am a Chicago-based artist, educator, museum worker, and archivist. My videos, open-source tools, and real-time audio/video performances undermine the interfaces and break through the algorithms of digital and analog systems, examining hidden power structures and liberating latent aesthetic materialities in cathartic and captivating compositions.

I am an Adjunct Associate Professor in the department of Film, Video, New Media, and Animation at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Collection Manager of the Roger Brown Study Collection.

NEWS/EVENTS

2022

September 10, 2022, 8:30 pm CRT Flux Phaser/RGB.VGA.VOLT performance at The Latent Space for the "Control Signals" exhibition performance series, Chicago, IL

August 13, 2022, 8:30 pm CRT Flux Phaser/RGB.VGA.VOLT and Cracked Ray Tube performance at The Latent Space for the "Control Signals" exhibition performance series, Chicago, IL

August 6, 2022, 7:00 pm opening for "Control Signals" solo exhibition at The Latent Space, Chicago, IL

August 6 - September 10, 2022 "Control Signals" solo exhibition at The Latent Space, Chicago, IL