Kai Luen Liang

MFA 2 - Music

Flag ASMR

“On Sept 11th, 2001 I watched the twin towers falling with my father. Glued to the TV. A silent demolition. An American reality TV show. In the weeks that followed, I started to see American flags everywhere. Especially from immigrants of all colors, flying the flag out of a sense of fear of appearing to be on the wrong side.

The sound of the twin towers falling in my memory is silent. Filmed from far away. As the second plane hit, there was no sound on TV. I heard the sound via the sound of my own heart beating and the breath of the newscaster trying to be as professional as possible as they had to report a major catastrophe in real time, live in front of the world.

Flag ASMR is the attempt to recall a memory. An attempt to close a schism caused by a fear of the lines people cross and the fears of uncertainty, harm, and danger. What is the sound of a silent memory. The sound of it being touched, taken apart, and reordered.”

Redefining Boundaries

Building new systems, setting new parameters. Boundaries are constantly defined and redefined. An experiment in generative systems, generative image/ film and sound relationships. Exploring mutual relationships/ co-habitations of sonic and visual digital spaces.

Manufacturing Landscapes

*** warning: Contains strong flashing lights….

Manufacturing Landscapes:

A short film investigating the metaphors of vision used in surveillance hardware brand videos. Uses various Generative Adversarial Networks(GAN)/ machine learning image synthesis techniques to generate material related to vision and changing landscapes. Also looks at word associations with images by using text descriptions to generate images. The images generated were then used as “found footage” for the film.

Mia Yao Meng

Hyperreal Gesstures This project is a reflection of the gestures we perform on a routine basis in order to interact (as the trigger and the data input) with networked devices such as smartphones and laptops. These gestures are abstracted/flattened in the design process and transformed into online behaviors. This habit-formation process only takes us a […]

Usha Venkat

Radical Practice Radical Practice is a series of podcast conversations between CalArts Graphic Design Program alumnae and current students. Each episode features an alumna with a distinct professional practice, including BFAs and MFAs whose endeavors range from cultural to corporate and from singular enterprises to ambitious ideas. We’ll discuss how they have defined success for […]

Vanessa Kwan

Ernestine and Delilah Ernestine and Delilah navigate their love in an apocalyptic world. Collaborators: Claire Brnjac https://vanessakwan.art/

Roger Kim

Elements Elements is an interactive web-based installation that uses the classical Chinese idea of five elements (火 fire, 水 water, 木 wood, 金 metal, and 土 earth) to explore perspectives that contradict and coexist at the same time. Visitors to the web-page will be able to manipulate elements (as represented by Chinese characters), and see […]

Dongpu Ling

ML Landscape I am interested in the inaccurate and unpredictable result that a machine can make. In order to understand its “mind”, I train the machine using images that have not been cropped, to see how it understands a thing that has not be seen before.

Mengqing Yuan

B-body “My B-body” is a project I created during home quarantine. It is based on a poem I wrote about the relationship between my physical body and my consciousness. The text of the poem reads: My B-body My body doesn’t belong to me It wants to be free It wants to come apart It wants […]

Daniel Corral

15 Pendulums This is a Unity-based video piece, inspired by Reich’s Pendulum Music, but with a microtonal tuning based on a 1-3-5-7 combination-product set. The fundamental of this tuning is an upper 2/1 partial of the Schumann resonance 7.83 Hz. This Schumann resonance is basically the resonant frequency of the Earth’s electromagnetic field. Here is […]

Mechatronic Art and Music

Kai-Luen Liang Tomorrow There Will Be Wind ( Automatic Windchimes ) A performance of playing an Arduino controlled set of wind chimes. Vibration motors are activated through a motor driver creating divisions and polyrhythms based on various “states.” First iteration prototype with beer bottle activation.   Trevor Bock 4-Note Bottle Blowing Instrument I have always […]