A few months back, I received two separate PR pitch emails at nearly the exact same time. One was an invitation to a speaking event in Texas hosted by a "free speech" conservative publishing company, featuring Kyle Rittenhouse as a keynote speaker. โ Read the rest
Digital device and instrumental maestro Love Hultรฉn is back with another WTF-wondrous creation delivering equal parts delight and perplexing function. Titled Desert Songs, the enormous retro-styled console looks like a piece of imaginary bio-laboratory equipment thatโs pulled straight from the set of a 1960s Japanese Kaiju film or from the post-apocalyptic setting of beloved video game, Fallout. Did we mention it also plays music โcomposedโ by plants?
Well, not really composed, but perhaps โaurally influencedโ by a photosynthetic set, The audio output is produced via a small device engineered to convert biodata sourced from any connected organic material into a MIDI interface. โItโs not magic and the plants are not composing,โ explains the prolific Swedish audiovisual artist and woodworker. โItโs simply biofeedback creating true organic โrandomnessโ in the form of tiny changes in electrical current with the plants acting as variable resistors.โ
Inside the systemโs containment unit/terrarium to conduct performances is a collection of cacti. Chosen specifically for the plantโs โvery sparse and sporadic activity,โ the mini garden includes a few different specimens hooked up to individual probes with mutable patch points upfront. The MIDI signals themselves are sent to a connected Korg NTS-1 allowing for โsimple waveshapingโ before being โdrenched in atmosphereโ using the Microcosm from Hologram Electronics. The sounds are wonderfully atmospheric, if not a bit disconcerting.
Finally, to complete the retro lab equipment aesthetic, a custom circular mounted MIDI visualizer simulates the appearance of plant chloroplasts under observation. We recommend fiddling with the Desert Songs system accompanied with this song for full mad scientist effect.