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AUDIOQUATROSCOPY
An Audioquatroscopy is a new type of experimental short film, in which image movements are linked to the rhythm of a well-known classical music piece. A quatroscope is a four-sided mirror tunnel, similar to a kaleidoscope, but built of four, rather than three mirrors. A square image placed at one end - when observed from the other end of the tunnel - is reflected repeatedly in four directions, leading to unexpected and fascinating patterns, which change, when the central image is moved.
The audioquatroscopy, that best illustrates some basics about the optical behaviour of a single square image is: Gershwin and Love.
An optical peculiarity is: When a square is rotated, empty spaces at the corners emerge. In my quatroscopies these spaces are filled by mirroring the image along the boundaries of the square.
For the creation of Audioquatroscopies I link any digital image to an available licence-free music piece. Currently I group the existing and published Audioquatroscopies into the following four themes.
Fine Arts
Grieg and Mondrian https://youtu.be/_cierciBATE
Saint-Saëns and van Gogh https://youtu.be/QbXMtGdT1D0
Beethoven and Koller https://youtu.be/ITsQbOBwC6Q
Brahms and Klimt https://youtu.be/rjVb2fdvJMs
Chopin and Niki's Nana https://youtu.be/K1YMmpjnKdw
Palestrina and Isenheimer Altar https://youtu.be/PYy3giWozfo
POP and Lichtenstein https://youtu.be/UJ9VUPd_PYg
Nature
Satie and Butterfly https://youtu.be/z6IPnvnR4KI
Charpentier and Matterhorn https://youtu.be/epaVJ9NHnfc
Vivaldi and Gobal Warming https://youtu.be/sCmB5Bzwr3s
Mahler and Stellar Nursery https://youtu.be/xL7az2l-J_s
Vivaldi and Plankton Bloom https://youtu.be/6jCnN_nSGlY
Landmarks found in Google World
Bach and Zürich Old Town https://www.youtu.be/v=b-wj0r5-a7c
Händel and Westminster Abbey https://www.youtu.be/iiDglw_2SmI
Chopin and Arc de Triomphe https://youtu.be/Cn12_-emaJw
Scarlatti and Venice https://youtu.be/Uf28x9PPAAU
Händel and Zürich Oldtown https://youtu.be/b-wj0r5-a7c
Bach and St. Thomas Church https://youtu.be/zrDb3qDkBW8
Bartok and Basler Münster https://youtu.be/l11g6XakV0o
Mozart in Vienna https://youtu.be/bqM3r5SWoc4
Artefacts
Gershwin and LOVE https://youtu.be/C7_mCAMmiqQ
Schuhmann and Grandma's Blanket https://youtu.be/O4haqVqYvxM
How I got to producing audioquatroscopies
Audioquatroscopy evolved from my previous work on quatroscopes. In a quatroscopy a single square image is repeatedly reflected in four directions, leading to a mosaic-like pattern. In reality, a quatroscope is a long mirror tunnel, consisting of four rather then three elongated mirrors, such as in most traditional kaleidoscopes. My first quatroscopies were produced in 2014 using a 5x5 cm square, 33 cm long mirror tunnel, placed in front of a computer-screen. Images were moved on that screen until an aesthetically pleasing pattern emerged, that could be recorded with a camera.
The quality of the pictures taken with a camera was, however rather poor. Consequently quatroscopies were produced digitally from input images using Photoshop, such as this quatroscopy of Niki de Saint Phalle's Nana:
From 2017 to 2022 I have produced many digital quatroscopies with square images of many themes, which were mounted on a thin aluminum board and shown at several exhibitions.
During the initial explorations with the camera, however, the observed pattern changes remained a fond memory until 2021. Then I found a computer specialist, who agreed to create a computer program, that would allow me to build a quatroscopic matrix based on the input of a single square image, and then move parts or all of that image to the rhythm of a musical tune. In this program I can first mount a music piece along a time axis. On a second track I can add a square image, which can be moved along the same time axis by marking new positions at points of changes in the melody of the music piece. The program then produces all the images between the markers at 60 frames per second and stores then in a folder. In a follwing step, these images are assembled into a short film. I call these short films Audioquatroscopies.
My vision for Audioquatroscopy could be realized thanks to Nik Hidber, Sandro Ducceschi, Apple, Google, and Adobe.
For earlier projects, please tap on "Earlier Projects" on top panel.
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