Interactive Visuals for Live Music (IVLM) Performance

Samuel Uribe-Botero, School of Music, Theatre & Dance

Collaborators: Zachary Behrman, College of Engineering and Ross School of Business; Kilala Ichie-Vincent, A. Alfred Taubman College of Architecture + Urban Planning

Creating an effective interactive visual installation requires a visual artistic vision, alongside the coding skills necessary to implement interactivity. A strong background in sound design is crucial for deciding how a visual will react to auditory components. Our end-results aim to be full-fledged, reactive, multi-modal installations that add to the ambiance and excitement of a live event. We believe that by creating these installations, we bring support and excitement to the University’s vibrant community. By utilizing coding as a creative role, we will also bring awareness to creative coding as a space. Through the interactivity between our audio and visual modalities in this mixed medium, we aim to enhance the separate experiences through a single platform.

We find this project exciting because we believe every single step in the creation process (visual design, coding, sound design) allows for artistic creativity. The combined output is a unique art medium that is very rarely explored at the University. By helping to pioneer this space on campus, we are also planning ways for more people to get involved with these mediums. We have been contacted by many underclass and upperclass students looking to learn more about the creative coding process. We are hoping to plan workshops in the near future to share our art, learning processes, and the artistic possibilities we may be able to reach.

As a group, we have already worked together to create an installation for a live-show with over 200+ attendees. This was accomplished by Kilala planning out the visual direction and motifs to be present at the show, Zachary coding the visual components, and Sam interfacing with the DJs present at the show to decide placement/reactivity. In total, this process of creating a fresh installation from scratch took the team about a month to accomplish and present. We think our success so far stems from our diverse skill-set. Sam is a PAT major with a lot of experience in live-show equipment and music production. Zachary is a Computer Science major with experience working in computer graphics for Google. Kilala is an Architecture student with incredible design skills.

Our current visual and audio inspiration comes from artists such as Rob Cloth, Haru Ji, Graham Wakefield, Sofia Crespo, Jono, Shigeto, Max Mathews, and many more. We are hoping to integrate our work inspired by these interdisciplinary artists into the music scene of Ann Arbor. We are also aiming to expand into the art exhibition field, the music scene in the greater Detroit area, and any other space where we can continue to explore the interdisciplinary space of visuals, sound, design, and technology.