You enter and see circular objects rotating on low-to-the-ground platforms. They look like slowly spinning records but larger and visually dense.
You enter and see circular objects rotating on low-to-the-ground platforms. They look like slowly spinning records but larger and visually dense.
A VLP is a 22”, circular artwork in reference to a record, a visual-LP. Rather than use a needle, the surface of a VLP is “played” using augmented reality.
You approach the VLP and lean over a phone mounted to a mic-stand that points down at it. You see a live video of the artwork but it is different on screen. The artwork transfigures and appears to be wrapping itself around 3D objects. After watching for a moment you see the same shapes spin by again and again. You notice a pattern, when that shape comes into view, a new object appears. You observe it again and again, and on a third appearance, you make another connection. The new object arrives with a sound.
A neon orange zig-zag triggers a flood of 3D spinning half-moons and a playful but disorienting siren.
A rectangle of TV-static on a gray circle tiggers a flashing ghost-like figure and an elastic bird-song.
The VLP Player consists of a spinning platform positioned below a suspended camera phone on which a VLP is translated/played using augmented reality (AR).
Every VLP interfaces with its own AR file, which must be pre-loaded onto the phone. It scans for visual inputs that trigger specific audio and visual outputs. The full image captured by the camera is also input to AR and is transfigured into surface textures for 3D shapes and moving planes.
Like a clock visits and revisits the hours, the same symbols pass-by again and again. A repetition of sounds rise and fall, 3D objects sway in and out, particles generate and oscillate. The full interaction has some chance for variability with camera position and machine-error, but the nature of the device is repetitive.
You look up and see the same visual on the phone's screen projected in real time on a nearby wall. Each VLP player is connected to a projector, filling the wall with bright, playful, and enticing movement. The audio from each VLP Player plays simultaneously, merging but not predictably. Sometimes a sound comes later than before or cuts unexpectedly. A few sounds seem to hold on uninterrupted.
The full audio visual installation of multiple VLP Players running simultaneously with audio and projector output is called Retrack.