Hex on Data (15’18”) is an interactive composition that explores networked audiovisual systems using an ever-evolving modular system designed for audiovisual interplay. One computer runs bespoke audio software, the other computer runs bespoke visual software; each musician has access to every parameter on the other musician’s computer. We celebrate network connectivity and consider how each element–hardware and software, tangible and virtual–of the system can both enact and respond to generative processes through gestural control and data manipulation. We explore the role and affordances of each element and how these elements contribute towards the temporal sonic and visual space. As each element is designed, tested, and integrated, new control functions and performance affordances inspire the next developments. The fluid and iterative nature of this process is mirrored in the performance practice; thus, it becomes evident that the “work” is not simply the performance or the physical instrument or code but the open-ended and ever-transient system.
This project builds on the the work of artists utilising networks including Amon Tobin, Joel Zimmerman (Deadmau5), Trent Reznor (Nine Inch Nails), as well as laptop ensembles: PLOrk at Princeton, L2Ork at Virginia Tech, and CiCLOP at University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Our research questions with this project are: How does network communication facilitate real-time collaboration, and to what extent do networked systems influence the creative process?
This research was peer reviewed by an international jury and selected/presented live-in-concert by the authors at The International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA) in Brisbane in 2024. ISEA explores the intersection of art, science, and technology and is one of the most significant international gatherings of artists, researchers, and professionals in experimental and electronic media arts.