System Blocks Signal Blocks System (rev. 2020)

[WARNING: FLASHING LIGHTS]

System Blocks Signal Blocks System (SBSBS) is a photosonic piece for real-time electronic sound and interactive lights. There are several actants at work in SBSBS including a Max patch, a Korg Volca Beats drum machine, effects pedals, a MIDI controller, lightbulbs, and the human performer. These actants produce different types of signals that, when linked together, create a dynamic system of information. These signals and system interrupt, redirect, and block each other’s actions, altering the overall state of the assemblage. In this sense, SBSBS is as much an intermedia environment of distributed agency as it is a musical composition. The photosonic output is a byproduct of system and actant agency and shifting power between actants.

The human performer is, of course, a part of this network. The signals they produce are mediated through a MIDI controller, the drum machine interface, the laptop keyboard, effects pedal switches and knobs, etc. They react to the constantly changing environment through practiced improvisational sensibilities. However, SBSBS is not a quest for improvisational virtuosity. Navigating the SBSBS intermedia system requires that the human embrace a performance mode that reaches beyond the traditional “human as master” performer-instrument configuration.

SBSBS’s reactive lightbulb array mirrors and distorts the state of this cybernetic network. Sometimes the lights respond directly to system activity, other times they act independently. In general, the lights make legible the shifting power between the human performer and electronic system and the translations of information between physical space and information space. The lighting array communicates through changes in brightness, color, and patterning, parameters which are enhanced by the spatial arrangement of the lightbulbs.

The specific lighting technology has evolved over the multiple versions of SBSBS in terms of number of lights, patterning, color, and continuous versus binary brightness. In all cases, however, SBSBS uses Max and Arduino to create vibrant interactions of sound and light.