circumference cycles

“Circumference Cycles” is a sound and light performance piece incorporating the sculpture/instrument of artist Robin Stanaway. This sculpture is called “Circumference” and is made of hand blown glass circular disks suspended by thin steel cables. Vibrations made from striking the glass and strings are amplified and processed while light is projected through the 30 inch diameter rondels. Light projected through the pieces generates mesmerizing reflections on the backdrop. The performers’ shadows become part of that visual imagery and change with each movement of their bodies in combination with the glass and refracted light.


The music created with The Circumference is both rhythmic and harmonic, resulting in a sound that is a blend of the tones of the glass and the “guitar” strings combined and resonating sympathetically. In June 2006, a new performance work including two rondels and two players (Strollo & Blaine), each processing their signal independently, will be featured at NIME '06 at IRCAM in Paris. Once in the digital domain, multi-timbral shaping and long repeated delays help to create a fabric of rhythms and tones to form a truly unique musical collaboration. The research and development for this project was sponsored with the generous support of the Berkman Faculty Development Grant and the Entertainment Technology Center at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA.

The shows in Paris were followed by a 10 day artist residency at STEIM in Amsterdam and a performance on June 20th.

performance video clips:

Circumference Cycles Quicktime movies from STEIM (Amsterdam) and Point Ephemere, Paris - click links below to download streaming video

No Republicans on this Ride

Real Steel*

*JAPANESE TAIKO ON GLASS! Excerpts from Real Steel composed by Janet Koike of RhythMix Cultural Works

Takai

Bean & Chris at Point Ephemere in Paris - June 2006

artist bios

Robin Stanaway is an artist who designs and fabricates installation art pieces for public and private spaces. She invented the glass, light, and sound instrument called the Circumference. Chris Strollo and Tina Blaine are collaborating with Stanaway in the creation of the performance entitled Circumference Cycles. Strollo and Blaine are composing the music for the instrument and Stanaway is continuing to develop the distinctive visual and sculptural elements of the piece. Stanaway’s work has been exhibited at: the Philadelphia Museum of Art; Corning Gallery, Steuben, New York; Tucson Museum of Art; Queens Museum of Art, and the P.S. 1 Museum and Contemporary Art Center, New York City. As the recipient of a Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation fellowship, Stanaway created The River, a spectacular 77-foot installation for the 2002 opening of the Pittsburgh Glass Center, where she was the facility's first artist in residence. Her work is also part of the permanent collection of the National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, D.C. Stanaway recently completed a large scale, permanent public artwork for the State Museum of Pennsylvania, entitled Continuum.

Tina Blaine teaches at Carnegie Mellon University’s Entertainment Technology Center, where she develops collective experiences that integrate music, game design and interactive media. Inspired by global traditions and spontaneous music-making, Blaine has a history of building electronic MIDI controller instruments and large-scale audience participation devices for live performance. As a musical interactivist at Interval Research, she led a development team in the creation of a collaborative audiovisual instrument known as the Jam-O-Drum, now on permanent exhibit at the Experience Music Project in Seattle and part of the ETC curriculum. Her subsequent research and project teamwork with ETC students has been featured at SIGGRAPH's Emerging Technologies, Zeum's Youth Art and Technology Center in San Francisco, Ars Electronica’s Museum of the Future in Linz, Austria, the World’s Fair for Kids and Give Kids the World Resort in Orlando, Florida. In September 2005, she was honored for her inspiring and innovative work in the sciences by the Women and Girls Foundation of Southwestern Pennsylvania and the Carnegie Science Center in Pittsburgh PA.

Blaine co-founded the New Interfaces for Musical Expression (NIME) conference in 2001 and has written for numerous publications including Electronic Musician, Computer Life and the Journal for New Music Research. Blaine’s pursuit of percussion has taken her around the world from Africa to Asia and beyond. She has written music for NPR, video games, TV and documentary soundtracks, and has performed/recorded with Brian Eno, Mickey Hart, Haunted by Waters, D'CüCKOO, RhythMix, Pandemonaeon, Tracy Blackman, Big World, and the University of Pittsburgh’s Gamelan Orchestra.

 


 



 


Chris Strollo works in the medium of sound within the context of visual performance and recorded media. His work ranges from live music performance, both composed and improvisational, to location sound recording for film and video. He combines found sounds, real time manipulation of objects and electro-acoustic adaptations of musical instruments.


In the 1990s, Strollo developed a touring group titled "Siamese Twins" with drummer Scott Davis focusing on live electro–acoustic saxophone improvisations, as well as producing several experimental documentary films including "The Apprazer" which was supported by The Ohio Arts Council and the NEA. He most recently collaborated with Artist Robin Stanaway developing a new instrument called "The Circumference" - a 30" glass disk suspended by 4 guitar strings.
Strollo has traveled as a documentary production sound mixer most notably for the WGBH-NOVA productions “Evolution” and "RX for Survival", and for the National Geographic series “The Shape of Life” and "Strange Days on Planet Earth" narrated by Edward Norton. In addition, he has recorded and mixed and numerous feature films, commercials, and live television broadcasts.

Chris Strollo solo performance


 

© 2022 tina blaine* bean

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