‘Espectres’ is a generative visual music installation. Using pixels as the source of sound generation, you hear exactly what you see.

Driven by chance and probability, ‘Espectres’ creates ever-changing scrolling spectrograms which are transformed into electronic music. Algorithmically generated, ‘Espectres’ has a musical taste of its own, fluctuating between unique and unexpected audio sequences, from drone ambients to raging rhythms or abstract microtonal landscapes.

For the spectacular site-specific version at Nxt Stage, the work has been composed as a predefined arrangement that takes you on a 15-minute journey through varying audiovisual states. 

ABOUT THE ARTIST
Eloi Maduell and Santi Vilanova have been the driving force behind Playmodes since 2006. The digital craft workshop in rural Catalonia explores the intersection of art and science, philosophy, music, and technological research. Their work often takes on impossible forms: light sculptures, audiovisual instruments, projections onto the stars, or the sonification of pebbles and twigs.

Underpinning all these techniques and formats is the driving force behind their projects: creating an impure, minimalist, and abstract language of Visual Music. Handmade. Done only with tools—both software and hardware—that they develop themselves. Thought turned into solder and code—open source.

Over nearly 20 years, Playmodes’ works have been exhibited in festivals and museums on all continents: from Shanghai to New York, Sydney to Amsterdam, and Barcelona to Medellín. Specialised editors have published their algorithmic graphic work. Human or cybernetic interpreters have played their music in all sorts of venues. They have won international music, art and design awards, and several art spaces, institutions and collectors worldwide treasure their pieces.

ARTWORK CREDITS
Espectres
Playmodes, 2023.
High-resolution generative graphics and digital sound synthesis.
Custom software (JAVA, C++, Supercollider)