- Reactive Electronics
Electronic devices and digital structures which respond to action (by humans, other natural stimuli).
- Art
A human response to stimuli which pleases ones aesthetic disposition.
- Media
Vehicles for delivering information.
Electronic systems can monitor our environment: movement, sound, light, heat, pressure, etc. In effect, computers can be equipped with tools which emulate the intelligent senses that we use to understand our world. In this way, a computer's programmer can react to a remote environment without being physically present in that location or time. As reactive electronic systems are explored and developed further, I believe that we will continue to move towards greater interactivity in all forms of media art. A computer's ability to synthesize images, sounds and information archives in real-time is changing the definitions of composer, performer and audience.
New Tools
Peripheral devices for computers such as analog-to-digital converters, audio input and output devices, network tools, MIDI controllers allow us to build tools which can observe a natural environment and record the information for analysis. Software which makes this possible has existed for decades but is just now being made available in such a way that people with no formal computer science training can effectively build complex tools for the purpose of creating art.
New Instruments
Example: In spring of 2001, I was involved with ten students of Arizona State University who devised a new instrument which was unveiled at the 2001 Society of Composers national conference. The instrument was played by unknowing passers by in the foyer of the ASU School of Music. The foyer of the building was equipped with a surveillance camera which monitored the movements of people through the atrium. Those movements were then analyzed and used to activate and create sounds which had been synthesized by students.
New Forms
Generative composition, that is to say art composed by means of processes such as human-machine interaction and logical/mathematical structures, allows for innovative forms -- forms which are not restricted by time or the endurance of performers (i.e. infinite and ever-changing).
Infinite Possibility
Improvements are being developed continuously to electronic and digital technologies. Hardware and software capable of processing real-time environmental data is more affordable and powerful than ever and new opportunities arise as artists embrace these technologies.