F. M.
F.M. stands for "Filtered Memory" and is an audiovisual installation conceived as a reflexion over individual and collective memory, over the way they change in time both inside and outside our experience.
F.M. started out of curiosity. I tried to put into audible frequencies the microwave radiation that was left in the Universe by the Big Bang. In a way that's the most ancient memory we share. Even though highly homogeneous, the microwave radiation slightly changes in different areas of the Universe (problably because of different concentrations of matter which slows it). So the radiation, despite being a memory of a single focused moment in time, is being changed by the Universe's expansion, and constantly interacts with it.
All sounds in F.M. come out of filtered noise. There's no way to faithfully reproduce a 16.023 Ghz frequency in audible field. I chose to divide the main frequency per two, lowering the octave every time, and obtained a set of Eb at different octaves. Then, for a different set of sounds, I turned Ghz into Hz, and multiplied this frequency to get a set of higher octaves. a third set comes from dividing 16.023Ghz per 100.
With a randomized visual pointer the viewer acoustically explores the map of the Universe that was reconstructed thorough the cosmic radiation. The RGB colours indicate the tiny variations of the background radiation. Each colour is connected to a different range of frequencies (Blue-Lows/Green-Mids/Red-Highs), and the colours percentage determines the outcome.
The viewer is not only a spectator, but an active actor. His presence triggers changes to the characteristics of the filters, which in turn amplify some of the frequencies creating ever changing patterns of pitches.
The result is a travel thorugh space and time where collective memory changes on it's own, through the unexpected laws of chaos, but also depending on the perspective we see it.



F. M.

Processing video...

F.M. (with guitar)

Processing video...

F.M. is also conceived as part of a music performance (for electric guitar or any other instrument). The musician should improvise along with the generated sound, follow the movement of the randomized pointer and change every time it stops, interpreting in a completely free form the symbols of the "score"..

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Nicola Privato