Cube with Magic Ribbons

source: infosimonkatancouk

Cube with Magic Ribbons is a computer visual and synthesised sound composition for live performance. The piece takes its title from a drawing of M.C.Escher which is rich with contradictory perspectives but it is also inspired by the wrapped spaces found in the two dimensional graphics of early computer games such as Asteroids and Pac-Man. It was created using a custom visual sequencer SoundCircuit, which rather than employing a conventional DAW layout, allows multiple virtual tape-heads to travel through a two-dimensional wrapped space along tracks that can be freely inter-connected. As the tape-heads travel through the resultant network, the topological layout of the tracks comes to directly influence the macro form of the music. Furthermore, as the piece unfolds the nature of this already confusing space reveals itself to be increasingly elastic and complex, yet inexorably intertwined with the musical form.
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source: dataisnature

Simon Katan’s audio-visual piece Cube with Magic Ribbons takes the visual form of an electronic circuit diagram that behaves as a live musical score and performative sequencer simultaneously. Temporal multi-modal relationships between visual elements and sound events are actuated by a ‘tape head’ as it follows the path of the wire. If, for example, a tape head crosses a ‘capacitor’ bridge then the crisp crackle of electrical discharge is heard synchronously with its visual representation. Rectangles resembling resistors generate notes of varying pitch and depending on their sequential alignment generate tonal cascades.

Extra tape heads, as well as circuit elements, can be added and configured in a performative context so that the branching wire structures and paths of numerous tape heads collude to unfold an increasingly complex musical structure. Simon cites the work of M.C.Escher as an influence on the work, we might also see Cube with Magic Ribbons as audio-visual interpretation of Paul Klee’s maxim, ‘taking a line for a walk’ – or more accurately taking a tape head for a walk.
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source: infosimonkatancouk

I’m a digital artist with a background in music and a strong preoccupation with games and play. My work incorporates hidden mechanisms, emergent behaviour, paradox, self-reference, inconsistency, abstract humour, absurdity and wonder. I make software which creates musical odysseys through exploring animated worlds and design games in which the players unwittingly become performers of bizarre and occasionally daft rites.

I completed a PhD in audio-visual co-dependency in music at Brunel University in 2012 and won a Prix Ars Electronica Honorary Mention for my work ‘Cube with Magic Ribbons. I have exhibited and performed in the UK and Europe at festivals and conferences including Imatronic (Germany), Beam Festival, Sonica, ICMC, Hide and Seek Fest, IG Fest, Spitalfields Festival, Sonorities, Green Man Festival, Secret Garden Party, and Borealis. Recent residencies include Pixel Palace at Tyneside Cinema and ZKM Karlsruhe.

I’m current;y a researcher and lecturer at Goldsmith’s Embodied Audio Visual Interactions group and am also designing an audio-only mobile game for the Royal Opera House’s latest production of l’Orfeo.
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source: vimeo

I’m an artist and coder with a background in composition who combines electronic music, live animation, interaction, and social gaming. My work incorporates hidden mechanisms, emergent behaviour, paradox, self-reference, inconsistency, abstract humour, absurdity and wonder. I make software which creates musical odysseys through exploring animated worlds and design games in which the players unwittingly become performers of bizarre and occasionally daft rites. I especially enjoy connecting these two worlds using technology.