[ISEA2019] Artists Statement: Vladlena Gromova & Artem Paramonov – Cryptographer

Artists Statement

interactive sound object

Cryptographer supplements to small things and images a sound dimension. The instrument combines the form of 19th-century instruments, the sound of the piano, the traditional European musical theory, code and “basic” process of human visual analyzer working. The camera captures a picture or a thing, which is placed on the instrument cover, and the instrument offers a sound interpretation of the image according to the algorithm.
The algorithm of Cryptographer is based on two hypotheses. The first one is proposed by the American artist Katherine Lubar, who applies the established in the 19th-century principles of consonance and dissonance to color
«intervals». According to her, analogous tone relations are formed between twelve semitones of a music scale and twelve parts of the Johannes Itten’s color circle. For instance, red and yellow colors constitute a major 3rd so far as a distance between colors includes four semitones. To determine a sound frequency we added an operation that allows finding certain notes according to the association of high frequency sounds to the light tones and low frequency sounds to the dark tone. The quantity of pixels in a color interval correlates to the duration of one sound.
The second hypothesis proposes the existence of a sequence in a process of image perception by a human visual analyzer. Professor and Russian inventor Nicolay Blinov attempted to build a universal rank. A presumed sequence of elements in an image perception was defined as a result of his first experiments: 1. Horizontal straight; 2. Vertical straight; 3. Volume; 4. Symmetry;
5. Periodicity; 6. Inclined straight line; 7. Angle, triangle, square; 8. Circle; 9. Outline, etc. This sequence was included in the algorithm but simplified to the set of “basic” principles which are not related to complex intellectual activities, and determined in Cryptographer’s algorithm the order of reading the image elements in the main musical part. Video: Cryptographer

  • Vladlena Gromova & Artem Paramonov are interdisciplinary Moscow, Russia-based artists, the founders of the Laboratory of Interactive Art and Design VALab. The laboratory is a collaboration platform for artists, designers, engineers, and programmers. The participants of VALab consider ART as a way of cognition: a way of exploring a variable reality, a tool of searching non-obvious connections, and a means to research yourself. Vladlena Gromova and Artem Paramonov are participants of art & science exhibitions and festivals including Science Art Fest in Perm (2019), the permanent exhibition of Science Art center “SIRIUS” in Sochi (since 2016), the permanent exhibition of Polytechnic Museum in Moscow (since 2014), Science Art Fest in Moscow (2011); the exhibition of History of Russian videoart, volume 3 in Moscow (2011); the 3rd Moscow Biennale of contemporary art (2009); Vis Vienna Independent Short (2009); also Vladlena Gromova is the Winner of Kandinsky prize -“The Young Artists of 2007”.   valab.info