Max Chung creates sonic and visualization experiences that explore responsive technologies in AI and body tracking software. In his multi-media installation, metroequilibrium, Chung creates a digital instrument that captures the relationship of sound and gesture that defines an immersive embodied experience. This installation uses cameras and Google MediaPipe to create an audiovisual experience that highlight an overwhelming and frenetic encounter.
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Max Chung’s multimedia installation explores the unfamiliar struggles of navigating a post-pandemic world with its volatile shifts in experiences. metroequilibrium uses cameras for Google’s MediaPipe AI to track body motion and gestures, and translates them into sound and visualization in real-time. The tracking system is programmed to require faster body movements in order to maintain an unbroken reflection of the performer on the screen. The sound parameters also change with both the position and speed of the gesture, becoming more intense with more agitated movements. The system uses several MAX/MSP guided instruments, each of which are activated by different gestures. The boundary between performer and gallery participant blurs as the instrument demands an active response.
metroequilibrium creates contrasting experiences from intense, urban sounds and sharp imagery to calming, human-based recordings. The still moments that capture sounds of respiration and vocalization create a reprieve within an architecture of chaos and disorientation. The responsive light projections use Jitter to dissolve the image of the performer which represents the constant din of the everyday urban experience. Upon entering the gallery, the screen is an abstract array of lines and color with an industrial and discordant soundscape. As the viewer begins to engage in real time with the installation, the outline of the performer’s body appears with sounds of peaceful breathing and speaking. As the viewers activate the instrument, colorful lines define the contours of the face, hands, and body. The choreographic gestures form a live, improvisatory performance with each unique engagement and reflects the unstable forces that have shaped our post-pandemic world, offering moments of recovery within this visual soundscape.
