Empty Cinema

Empty Cinema
2011
loudspeakers, projection

One channel video projection, two channel audio, thrift store loudspeakers. Video clips of empty back rooms are projected into the corner of another empty back room, creating a dislocated feeling. Disjointed piano sounds emanate from mismatched thrift-store speakers, creating a distant, distorted sound reminiscent of the tinny speakers at drive-in theaters. The speakers are not hidden but rather are placed deliberately in the frame of the projection, as the only “characters” in the otherwise empty images.

Empty Cinema from Michael T. Bullock on Vimeo.

 

Speaking Drawing

Speaking Drawing
2008-2010
Woofer, India ink, watercolor paper

In “Speaking Drawing,” a series of watercolor paper cards and 2″x3″ art boards are placed in a large loudspeaker lying on its back on the floor. A very low, slowly changing tone is played through the speaker, causing the objects to bounce and shimmy around inside. I then drip India ink on the papers and blocks and attempt to draw on them as they quiver uncontrollably. Also available on the modisti network.

Speaking Drawing from Michael T. Bullock on Vimeo.

 

PONDER 1 & 2

PONDER 1 & 2
2008 and 2009
With Michael Pestel, Bryan Eubanks, Andrew Lafkas, Vic Rawlings, Linda Aubry Bullock, others

PONDER is a full-day festival of performance and site-specific works taking place in and around the Prouted Pond and Barn in Middlebury, CT, and hosted by Michael Pestel. For PONDER 1, I joined Eubanks, Lafkas, and Rawlings in creating long-duration performances of up to 6 hours, as well as continuously running sound installations. My installations included several small solar-powered droning devices that floated on the pond; and a Max/MSP-based system that recorded sound from inside the barn and replayed it through transducers attached to the barn’s windows.

For PONDER 2 we were joined by Linda Aubry Bullock. Together we created a sound installation in which an electric blower motor resonated an 8-foot wood organ pipe. Field recordings were also played into the pipe via a small speaker. The combined sound was gently amplified.

Auditory Thresholds [2006]

 

Auditory Thresholds
2006
Audio transducers, hemispherical speakers, LEDs
Performance/Installation presented at student art show, Department of Electronic Arts, RPI

In Auditory Thresholds, windows become listening devices. We gaze through windows as if they are not even there; sounding the windows brings their structure to life. Audio transducers are attached directly to the aging glass in the Civil War era hospital building that now houses the RPI Arts Department. Passive looking devices become active, vibrant sonic sources.

Using a standard MIDI drumpad trigger – a grid of 16 continuous-pressure sensors – I direct the flow of my sound sources (field recordings and synthesis based on these recordings) from window to window. I must maintain constant pressure on the pads to keep the sounds moving. In its original form, Auditory Thresholds was an extended duration performance/installation lasting 3+ hours.

transducer attached to window

Installation pieces by rise set twilight

 

Installation pieces by rise set twilight:
multimedia duo of Mike Bullock and Linda Aubry Bullock