Shedding
Competition:
3rd Annual Digital Arts Student Competition 2026 – Speculative Futures Finalist (Undergraduate Student)
Artist(s):
Artist School Information
| Education Level: | Undergraduate Student |
|---|---|
| School: | Pratt Institute |
Artwork Details
| Year Produced: | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Medium: | Performance Art |
| Category: | Installation Art and Performance |
| Link(s): | https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/nhPHmjKEIGaAd |
Description:
In the era of digital materialization, where human existence is endlessly pixelated and archived, how do we confront true disappearance? Shedding is a “real-time time sculpture” proposing a techno-ritual of mourning within a speculative future. The artist entangles the compulsive, physical act of hand-weaving with a fragile, multi-channel audio feedback matrix. Omnidirectional microphones capture the residual noise of the environment and memory, constantly self-exciting between physical and disembodied soundscapes. It snowballs into an irresistible auditory monolith—the materialization of longing. Rather than using technology to fabricate a false digital immortality, the work seeks to construct a “post-human farewell field” in our deterministic technological future. It is a space that allows for energy dissipation, stripping away the physical body and social symbols. Guarded by an automated system through the passage of time, Shedding completes a gentle gaze into absence and a total release.
Technical Information:
Built on macOS, this work features a parallel audio routing matrix integrating physical and disembodied soundscapes. Using a Focusrite 18i20 and a wireless omnidirectional microphone system, environmental acoustic feedback is fed real-time into Ableton Live. The system leverages the physical latency of Bluetooth clocks and gain accumulation to generate evolving spatial resonance. A custom automated Python “Watchdog” script is deployed in the background to ensure extreme stability and fault tolerance for the multi-channel aggregate audio device during the durational performance, deeply intertwining the technical architecture with the conceptual narrative.
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