Pattern Portraits: Cork (2019)
Pattern Portrait: Cork is an audio-visual composition continuously developing its form through the musical and visual exploration of the rhythmic cycles and patterns generated by the traffic data of a Cork City motorway and the water levels of the River Lee. Each automobile on the highway at a given time is represented by both a note and an image. The river levels determine the drone volume. This data is sent to each Possibility Box where the performers improvise with synthesis, timbre and real-time video.
Fragments of an Unknown Origin (2018)
In early 2018, I was asked to be a featured artist at the SonADA Sound Art festival in Aberdeen, Scotland. I brought a small version of CAVE with me to showcase the Possibility Box and a newly composed piece Fragment of an Unknown Origin. This work used fragments of music found on broken stones dating from Ancient Greece. While their original purpose was lost, CAVE reanimated the broken melodies through improvisation and instruments that didn’t always respond the way a musician would be used to. I programmed some of the instruments with Euclidian sequencers that required a number to be inputed into the sequencer by the instrumentalist via the onboard buttons. The resulting rhythm would often be unpredictable and the instrumentalist would really be working with timbre and densities of sound. The piece itself was written as a lead sheet for group improvisation.
The SonAda performance was recorded and meant to be published by a cassette label in Scotland but as these thing can be precarious, the label vanished. Here is the incredible cover art done by the amazing graphic designer Brad Towell at Modesto Studios in Pittsburgh, PA.
This piece was then performed by the full ensemble at Sound Sound Day here in UCC’s Music Department. This is the group of students along with two others not featured that day, who worked so hard to build the instruments they are performing with.
Organs, Drums, and Video Oscillators (2017)
One year we produced a live Audio Visual work more in the realm of analog electronica meets Afropop accompanied by early analog video animation. We were a small group that year and it was a real jam with acoustic instruments as well. We had a few dancers for that one.
Terry Riley’s in C at the Roundy, Cork.
The speakers for each of the instruments were placed in a large oval around the instrumentalists. Some of the audience chose to walk around and hear each individual instrument perform its way through the work. It was a magical night.
PopOut – Sculpture Factory, Cork (2015)
A piece that used audience supplied audio and video samples and mashed them through templates made from pop hits of the 1980’s and 90’s.
The Box (2014)
A group field trip was taken to UCCʼs former bottling plant now storage facility on the River Lee. In this space, cameras and audio recorders were utilised to sample the slowly disintegrating source material consisting of generators, animal cages, outdated technology, office furniture, sinks and a few other surprises. “The Box” seeks to breathe new life into these objects. The source material is manipulated by the hands of the performers creating a striking visual representation of how we creatively handle objects.
CAVE - Cork Audio Visual Ensemble 