The Process


CONCEPTION


This concept developed alongside my reading of Wassily Kandinsky’s book “Point and Line to Plane”, in which the artist and Bauhaus educator attempts to create a “new science of art” by breaking down the most fundamental elements of visual art. I visited the Freelands Foundation to gain access to this book, and got some more recommended readings from Giulia Vandelli, one of their Programme Curators.


SOUND DESIGN


Following Kandinsky’s cue, I focused on selecting examples of the “briefest” element of sound. That said, as this is my first study, and due to a time constraint of one week, I wanted to make it easy for any contemporary dancer to participate without preparation. As such, it had to be danceably-long, so I went with 1 bar (4/4). The rate can be arbitrary, so I used what I make most of my music with Chez Tito at, which is 114 beats per minute.

I started with 5 different sounds. But how will they differ, one from another?

I brainstormed many ways, including frequency band, Amount of polyphony, BPM, Length of sound, Maximum amplitude, Number of instruments, Amount of rhythm, Perceived texture, Typical genre links, Cultural link of the composition, Cultural link of the instruments and Historical origin...

I chose 5 different Amplitude Changes Across the Bar:
  1. A pulse at the beginning of the bar
  2. Constant sound across the bar
  3. Erratic sounds throughout the bar
  4. A Crescendo across the bar
  5. A Diminuendo across the bar

I used the royalty-free sample library Splice to find sounds which fit the bill.

THE SHOOT


By the nature of this being a book, dancers’ motion will have to be captured as series of still images. This means freezing three-dimensional motion into two dimensions.
How might we capture the essence of the motion, with all its intensity and spatiality, for viewers to experience by looking at a flat page of printed paper?


Wanting to capture photos of the body’s clear anatomy and movements, I learned that few variables will help us:

Camera
  • Lens — A wide-angle lens, held close to the dancer, will exaggerate movement along the Z-axis.
  • Shutter Speed — 1/125 is fast enough to keep the dancer’s torso sharp, yet slow enough to produce moderate blurring in rapidly- moving extremities.


Outfit
  • Simplicity — A clean, sleek outfit will keep our attention on the motion, rather than the design.
  • Color — Contrast between the torso and head, arms and feet will make motion apparent.

Sonny Kong from IDE 23/25 at the Royal College of Art was kind enough to participate as the dancer. Each sound was played a few times to give Sonny a small chance to internalise the sound. The shoot went smoothly at the Thames Studio in the RCA’s Woo building.