ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Golan Levin - Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art.

Why you should listen

Having worked as an academic at MIT and a researcher specializing in computer technology and software engineering, Golan Levin now spends most of his time working as a performance artist. Rest assured his education hasn't gone to waste, however, as Levin blends high tech and customized software programs to create his own extraordinary audio and visual compositions. The results are inordinately experimental sonic and visual extravaganzas from the furthest left of the field.

Many of his pieces force audience participation, such as Dialtones: A Telesymphony, a concert from 2001 entirely composed of the choreographed ringtones of his audience. Regularly exhibiting pieces in galleries around the world, and also working as an Assistant Professor of Electronic Time-Based Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Levin is unapologetically pushing boundaries to define a brave new world of what is possible.

His latest piece, Double-Taker (Snout), is installed at the Pittsburg Museum of Art.

More profile about the speaker
Golan Levin | Speaker | TED.com
TED2004

Golan Levin: Software (as) art

Filmed:
658,857 views

Engineer and artist Golan Levin pushes the boundaries of what's possible with audiovisuals and technology. In an amazing TED display, he shows two programs he wrote to perform his original compositions.
- Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:27
Imagine spending seven years at MIT and research laboratories,
0
2000
3000
00:30
only to find out that you're a performance artist.
1
5000
4000
00:35
(Laughter)
2
10000
3000
00:39
I'm also a software engineer,
3
14000
3000
00:42
and I make lots of different kinds of art with the computer.
4
17000
2000
00:44
And I think the main thing that I'm interested in
5
19000
2000
00:46
is trying to find a way of
6
21000
2000
00:48
making the computer into a personal mode of expression.
7
23000
3000
00:51
And many of you out there are the heads of Macromedia and Microsoft,
8
26000
5000
00:56
and in a way those are my bane:
9
31000
2000
00:58
I think there's a great homogenizing force
10
33000
3000
01:01
that software imposes on people and limits the way they think
11
36000
6000
01:07
about what's possible on the computer.
12
42000
2000
01:09
Of course, it's also a great liberating force that makes possible,
13
44000
3000
01:12
you know, publishing and so forth, and standards, and so on.
14
47000
3000
01:15
But, in a way, the computer makes possible much more
15
50000
4000
01:19
than what most people think, and my art has just been about
16
54000
3000
01:22
trying to find a personal way of using the computer,
17
57000
2000
01:24
and so I end up writing software to do that.
18
59000
3000
01:28
Chris has asked me to do a short performance,
19
63000
2000
01:30
and so I'm going to take just this time -- maybe 10 minutes --
20
65000
3000
01:33
to do that, and hopefully at the end have just a moment
21
68000
2000
01:35
to show you a couple of my other projects in video form.
22
70000
3000
13:11
Thank you.
23
766000
2000
13:13
(Applause)
24
768000
7000
13:24
We've got about a minute left.
25
779000
2000
13:26
I'd just like to show a clip from a most recent project.
26
781000
2000
13:28
I did a performance with two singers
27
783000
3000
13:31
who specialize in making strange noises with their mouths.
28
786000
3000
13:34
And this just came off last September at ARS Electronica;
29
789000
3000
13:37
we repeated it in England.
30
792000
2000
13:39
And the idea is to visualize their speech and song behind them
31
794000
3000
13:42
with a large screen.
32
797000
1000
13:43
We used a computer vision tracking system
33
798000
2000
13:45
in order to know where they were.
34
800000
2000
13:47
And since we know where their heads are,
35
802000
1000
13:48
and we have a wireless mic on them
36
803000
2000
13:50
that we're processing the sound from,
37
805000
1000
13:51
we're able to create visualizations
38
806000
2000
13:53
which are linked very tightly to what they're doing with their speech.
39
808000
3000
13:56
This will take about 30 seconds or so.
40
811000
2000
14:01
He's making a, kind of, cheek-flapping sound.
41
816000
3000
14:43
Well, suffice it to say it's not all like that, but that's part of it.
42
858000
2000
14:46
Thanks very much. There's always lots more.
43
861000
2000
14:48
I'm overtime, so I just wanted to say you can, if you're in New York,
44
863000
2000
14:50
you can check out my work at the Whitney Biennial next week,
45
865000
2000
14:52
and also at Bitforms Gallery in Chelsea.
46
867000
3000
14:55
And with that, I think I should give up the stage,
47
870000
2000
14:57
so, thank you so much.
48
872000
2000

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Golan Levin - Experimental audio-visual artist
Half performance artist, half software engineer, Golan Levin manipulates the computer to create improvised soundscapes with dazzling corresponding visuals. He is at the forefront of defining new parameters for art.

Why you should listen

Having worked as an academic at MIT and a researcher specializing in computer technology and software engineering, Golan Levin now spends most of his time working as a performance artist. Rest assured his education hasn't gone to waste, however, as Levin blends high tech and customized software programs to create his own extraordinary audio and visual compositions. The results are inordinately experimental sonic and visual extravaganzas from the furthest left of the field.

Many of his pieces force audience participation, such as Dialtones: A Telesymphony, a concert from 2001 entirely composed of the choreographed ringtones of his audience. Regularly exhibiting pieces in galleries around the world, and also working as an Assistant Professor of Electronic Time-Based Art at Carnegie Mellon University, Levin is unapologetically pushing boundaries to define a brave new world of what is possible.

His latest piece, Double-Taker (Snout), is installed at the Pittsburg Museum of Art.

More profile about the speaker
Golan Levin | Speaker | TED.com
THE ORIGINAL VIDEO ON TED.COM