Hypo chrysos
Marco Donnarumma · 2013
Hypo Chrysos (HC) is a work of action art for vexed body and biophysical media. During this twenty minutes action I pull two concrete blocks in a circle. My motion is oppressively constant. I have to force myself into accepting the pain until the action is ended. The increasing strain of my corporeal tissues produces continuous bioacoustic signals. These comprise of blood flow, muscle sound bursts, and bone crackles that are amplified, distorted, and played back through eight loudspeakers. The same bioacoustic data stream excites an OpenGL-generated swarm of virtual entities, lights, and organic forms diffused by a video projector. The work brings together different media so as to creatively explore the processes wherein physicality, adaptive biotechnology, and musicianship (or better, the lack of) collide. This article elaborates on the methodology underpinning the piece. It describes, both conceptually and technically, how the performer's physical strain and the resulting music are integrated using bioacoustic sensing.