Large String Array

Abstract

University of Washington Abstract Large String Array Cameron Fraser Chair of the Supervisory Committee: Professor Juan Pampin Digital Arts and Experimental Media (DXARTS)

Twelve hundred piano strings reach from floor to ceiling in Large String Array, turning the whole of Jack Straw New Media Gallery into an automatic instrument. An ensemble of synthesized voices playback over the array of strings, for a seventeen minute song cycle. Custom high-gain amplifiers and contact microphones were developed to listen in to faint transmissions of daily life during the pandemic of 2020. Large String Array reimagines this cloistered soundscape as a tone poem transfigured through the seventeen by twelve foot array of steel wire. This document outlines the technical and conceptual development of Large String Array. First, addressing research and artistic inquiry, the results of which culminate in an installation at the Jack Straw Cultural Center in Seattle Washington in September of 2020. This is followed by a historical argument of the work, detailing the confluence of diverse sound practitioners to whom Large String Array is indebted. Next, the core of the paper details the creation of the Large String Array, from its conception to installation. Finally, conclusions and future iterations will be addressed.