Pet_00 by Laura Baxter & Simon Yuill

Open the Artwork

Laura Baxter & Simon Yuill
Laura Baxter is currently studying for a Post Graduate Diploma at the Royal Academy of Music in London after having completed her undergraduate studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in 2003. Laura began her studies at the RSAMD as a solo pianist, but soon became involved in accompanying and chamber music, and decided to pursue accompaniment at a full-time, professional level. In December 2002 she was given a scholarship by the RAM in London to study with Iain Ledingham on the Postgraduate accompaniment course. While studying as a pianist at the RSAMD Laura received tuition in electroacoustic composition from Dr. Alastair Macdonald, and developed a great interest in this type of work. As part of her final year portfolio, she was asked to put together some material for use in the redevelopment of the Paragon Ensemble's website. The collaboration that followed -with Simon Yuill - resulted in the first of the Paragon Ensembles' "PET_00 Projects".

Simon Yuill is an artist based in Glasgow (Scotland). A key part of his practice involves collaborative projects with other people from a range of different backgrounds, from free software and political activism to music and performance. Some works are primarily formal and aesthetic in nature, others more socially directed. As well as Laura Baxter and the Paragon Ensemble, other musicians he has worked with include the Boards of Canada, Kaffe Matthews and Zeena Parkins.

PET_00

Pet_100

Development Date: 2004
Tips: Click on the "Open PET_00" link to launch the work, which will open in a small window, once it has loaded click on the "HELP" button for instructions.

Open the Artwork

As with many of the selections in Dots & Lines, PET_00 is a visual music system, which allows users to compose new pieces of music. Users are confronted with a simple set of visual objects which can be moved around in order to stimulate musical compositions. PET_00 is truly a complete composition environment, offering users a set of 'instruments' (a series of samples created by the composer Laura Baxter), a visual score (animated images reflecting the sound structure) and a method of interaction which allows users to create new music.

PET_00 utilises complex computation to define the type of sounds users can hear. The system is made up of small particles. Each particle represents a section of a sample. The movement of the particles can be influenced by 'attractor elements' that vary in strength over time, thus creating fluxing patterns of movement. The samples attached to the particles are activated when they pass through "trigger zones" which adopt colours. This creates a fluid and attractive way of visualising music as it plays. The intelligence of the computation involved in PET_00 blurs the relationship between the composition environment itself and the composer, or user. In this work, are Simon Yuill and Laura Baxter the composers? Or is it the users, which can utilise PET_00 to make new compositions? It is precisely these kinds of blurred boundaries that makes PET_00 an excellent example of the way that technology is changing traditional roles within music.

PET_00 was commissioned by the Paragon Ensemble who use it within their live performances.