Summer (blackflies and other bugs)

Sean Clute, Otto Muller, and and Leif Hunneman

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

Summer (blackflies and other bugs) is a site-specific intermedia performance that uses homemade instruments, digital signal processing, and interactive electronics to create a closed-loop system for a human-insect encounter with rural space. While human-insect interaction is a consistent feature of the rural imaginary, it is typically represented within settler narratives of conquest and perseverance. In an effort to engage insects outside of these frameworks, this piece places two light sources in a pasture in rural Vermont. A human participant produces frequencies by beating wing-like paddles in response to the intensity of the light sources. The system also measures the presence of insects attracted to the light, and adjusts the intensity of both lights in response to insect and human activity. Human and insect sound is captured and processed for a virtual audience. Through biomimicry and autopoeisis, this system offers a unique opportunity for engaging insect spatial practices outside of human-oriented pioneer narratives of rural space.

Citation

Sean Clute, Otto Muller, and and Leif Hunneman. 2021. Summer (blackflies and other bugs). Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.21428/92fbeb44.cdddc154 [PDF]

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{nime2021_music_32,
 abstract = {Summer (blackflies and other bugs) is a site-specific intermedia performance that uses homemade instruments, digital signal processing, and interactive electronics to create a closed-loop system for a human-insect encounter with rural space. While human-insect interaction is a consistent feature of the rural imaginary, it is typically represented within settler narratives of conquest and perseverance. In an effort to engage insects outside of these frameworks, this piece places two light sources in a pasture in rural Vermont. A human participant produces frequencies by beating wing-like paddles in response to the intensity of the light sources. The system also measures the presence of insects attracted to the light, and adjusts the intensity of both lights in response to insect and human activity. Human and insect sound is captured and processed for a virtual audience.  Through biomimicry and autopoeisis, this system offers a unique opportunity for engaging insect spatial practices outside of human-oriented pioneer narratives of rural space.},
 address = {Shanghai, China},
 articleno = {32},
 author = {Sean Clute and Otto Muller and and Leif Hunneman},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.21428/92fbeb44.cdddc154},
 editor = {Eric Parren and Wei Chen},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 month = {June},
 title = {Summer (blackflies and other bugs)},
 track = {Music},
 url = {https://doi.org/10.21428/92fbeb44.cdddc154},
 year = {2021}
}