Destroying Structures

07/22 Bachelor Final Project, Graduation

What does the music of today tell us about the future?

For my graduation work “Destroying Structures”, I researched music from different youth culture movements of the no-future generation and analysed their sounds and musical qualities in the context of the social-political climate of the time and the future outlook of the generation. What can we foretell about the future expectations of the youth by listening to their music? What musical tools are used to express worry, discontent, anger and other emotions of the youth as they look into their future? I discovered noise and chaos as primary musical tools to destroy fixed and old structures - to make space for something new.
In the installation, the audience interacts with a possible future and destroys it. One user affects the outcome of the installation, the and outcome of the future. They destroy visual and musical structures until nothing old is left. Both the audio and the visual are controlled via a pressure pad controller in thy real space. The pres pressure patrol the triggering of sounds and sound FX and animations in VR. The user is able to slow down the storm and waves, an reverse them which corresponds to a reversing and slowing down of the overall music compcompositionher pads control the transformation of monoliths, the explosion and growth of objects and the lightning in the sky. Each synced with a Sound FX and alteration of the music. The member of the audience in VR, that is experiencing the future, can see it and is in it, but he/she is powerless. The user controlling the installation with the controller, in the real space, in the present, is in charge of the future.
The project was made with Ableton Live and Unity, the controller uses Arduino script. All programs are connected through a Max8 patch that functions as an OSC and MIDI hub. The Sound Installation is in 5.1 Surround.

Nominated for the “Drempelprijz - Autonomous Practice” 2022