Technique and Audiovisual Counterpoint in the Estuaries Series

The author’s Estuaries series of audiovisual compositions (2016-19) draw together investigations into novel methods of abstract animation, generative music and audiovisual counterpoint. This article explains key aspects of some of these concerns and how they contribute to particular aesthetic qualities of the works. The animation technique was based on visualisation of multiple Nelder-Mead search processes that search for brightest or darkest points in a source image. This process can create unpredictable and complex textures and temporal behaviors that can still seem perceptually unified and coherent due to the consistent shape and behavioral vocabulary of the Nelder-Mead search. A specific plugin implementation for Apple Motion is described. The music was created with the assistance of the author’s Nodewebba software, which implements his concept of variable-coupled iterated maps. The author uses algorithmic integration of these two techniques to address questions of audiovisual counterpoint, revealing both potentials and limits to the automated linking of generative visual and musical systems that are not perceptually informed.