Because music is an artform that uses sound, it is inextricably linked to mathematics and science due to qualities like pitch and rhythm, not to mention the physics associated with the design and implementation of musical instruments—all the more relevant today with the emergence of new experimental forms thanks to 3D printing and digital formatting. So design collective Süperfad's latest film Tactile Waveforms, directed by Nando Costa, which “explores the connections between science, mathematics and music” is a concept that makes a lot of sense to us. And visualizing music always brings interesting results, be they from Danny Perez and Animal Collective or audiovisual artists like Quayola.In this exploration by Süperfad and Nando Costa, abstract forms are mixed with ethereally bleak landscapes where compositional pictures transform into strange glass instruments that look part musical, part scientific—more suited to a laboratory than a concert hall. And while the drawings represent musical scores, the film is itself framed by the musical score of World Gang, created by altering classical instruments electronically.The overall result is a piece that comes across as experimental and dreamy, mixing the time-lapsed plains of eastern Oregon with the computer generated shapes, symbols, and apparatus of science and mathematics. If nothing else, this piece lives up to the tactile waveforms promised in its title.
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Tactile Waveforms Illustrates Landscapes Of Sound
Nando Costa uses abstract forms, bleak panoramas, and impossible instruments to create a striking short film.