Installation & A/V
Bulleit Limitless Lounge
Los Angeles, November 2024
From the retrospective by Optical Animal:
“Optical Animal partnered with Bulleit Bourbon to create the Bulleit Limitless Lounge - an immersive video art experience and bar that takes guests on an inspiring journey through a series of sprawling 360° animated worlds.
The looping 25-minute narrative was scripted, designed, animated and installed by Optical Animal, venturing out on a vivid, abstract exploration into the creative process. To provide a broad range of insight and inspiration, OA brought on collaborating artists Mike Perry, boogieREZ, Kyle Gordon, and Gleix, among others. A six-channel immersive audioscape helped to drive the narrative, crafted by sound designers Philip Kim, Drew Joy, Gosteffects, and Optical Animal.
As a complement to the ultra-high resolution immersive projections of the main space, OA also created a supporting installation featuring a series of vintage 16mm projectors and physical film loops, rounding out the experience with a throwback to the analog world where it all began.”
View the Project via Optical Animal
C/O Optical Animal for Bulleit Whiskey
Was happy to have the opportunity to put together some visual artwork for this project. All built in TouchDesigner by rigging a 5 camera scene which was projection mapped across an 18,000px+ raster with content that loops back around + the floor. First time challenge of this sort; many thanks to Max as always!
Orbitals
New York City, 2024
12 paths, concentric circles by default. Each contains one orbital that will trigger a note when it reaches a slot on its path. Notes can be freely assigned per path and saved as custom scales which are easy to switch between. Note triggers are sent out via MIDI for easy synth/DAW integration + orbitals can trigger unique audio files. Each path can contain one or two trigger slots. Orbitals can travel the full length of the path endlessly in a loop, or in a pendulum/sinewave with adjustable amplitude.
The more interesting behavior comes from adjusting speeds & phase. There's an overall speed parameter & a 'cascade' which offsets speed for consecutive paths in equal increments. This allows for easy creation of Reich-esque phasing pieces & 'pendulum' music. Extra adjustments for visual & aesthetic stuff as well. Slow automation of speed and key changes make this a really nice machine for endless generative ambient textures.
Ambient guitar
Marimba Pendulum
Ambient Pads and Twisted Paths
Two instances of Orbitals play Steve Reich’s Piano Phase
This project started out, as many of the better ones do, as a personal experiment (see Instagram Post), but was adapted for The Great Hall at Avant Gardner in Brooklyn, New York when I was asked to come up with an idea that might fit the lounge area of the venue space for the summer season. Throughout the months that The Brooklyn Mirage is in operation, guests come through The Great Hall on their way inside, taking in a calm and welcoming scene that waits for them to relax alongside should they tire of the dancefloor. Something pleasing and a little mesmerizing about the phase of things :) On occasion I would build out slight variations on the patch to go with the nights theme, such as redoing the paths so that they were in the shape of clouds, or the Anjunadeep logo. Other nights I worked further on the front end UI for the patch, which allowed anybody on staff to make adjustments to color, sound, etc… with a fair degree of granularity. As this was initially meant to be a musical phasing tool, there truly is quite a lot more that this can do beyond just sitting and playing ambient triggers slightly out of phase - but this was a fantastic opportunity and a lovely way to give the loungers something to focus on during a break from the four on the floor outside.
Original Instagram Post Here.
2023.
Copacetic 001: Dj Seinfeld
Multi-part analog visual installation with interactive elements
DJ booth backdrop contained 8x modded CRT TVs receiving audio feeds, each displaying real-time waveforms via the internal deflection circuits.
Massive 40+ CRT wall installation by Smooth Canoe being fed:
• Analog visuals generated via the DIY video modular + mx12 feedback loops
• Audience facing analog camera feed > glitch processing via Sync Eater > custom breakout box in front of the wall to give the audience some basic physical controls over the glitch processing
• Custom real-time branded visual systems in Touchdesigner + live glitch processing via the Sync Eater
• Wall projection displaying a collection of analog CCTV Cam <> Sync Eater <> CRT TV feedback loops
Lobby of the Lost // Cityfox Halloween 2019
Music & Lighting Installation
For The Cityfox Experience Halloween Festival at Avant Gardner in Brooklyn, NY in 2019 I was given the opportunity to write a themed composition with synchronized lighting for one room of the festival space. Scenic & design by Tengo, Jeff, & the in-house prod crew.
The result was a 30 minute long composition that looped throughout the 12 hour event. The music itself moves through a series of dark and brooding motifs, intense anxiety driven percussive moments, and ambient atmospheres accompanied by synchronized strobe lights, chandeliers, wash lights, and glowing gowns that surround the room.
Both the music and the lighting sequence were written in Image-Line’s FL Studio. The lighting sequence, written in a series of 14-bit MIDI triggers and automation envelopes, is sent in real-time via a loopback into Derivative Touchdesigner where the data is processed and sent out as DMX values to each of the fixtures. A simple previz system was also built within Touchdesigner to visualize the lighting data during the sequencing process.
October, 2019.
Thank you Billy for the opportunity.