David Stout: Contours and Coincidence

video, 2021, 9:43 min., Artmatic Designer, courtesy of the artist

Contours and Coincidence is a generative exploration of bio-morphic forms found in the natural world. Contrasting bold graphic gestures with lilting lines and chaotic filigree, this work draws inspiration from the tradition of hand drawn experimental films. The music score eschews my typical use of image sonification and synthetic sound sources, instead the work consists entirely of sounds taken from short wave, FM and AM radio broadcasts. As such, it is both performative, in the sense of incorporating dial scanning between stations, while also being highly composed using carefully drawn envelopes to sculpt each audible moment. Computational media, like the pencil, is a prosthesis extending the reach of the hand, the tongue and consciousness itself. Using generative image techniques as a form of contemporary scrying I can activate a deeper imaginal realm to play at the liminal edge of the mind’s default pattern recognition states.

David Stout is a visual artist, composer, electronic instrumentalist and performance director. His interdisciplinary approach includes studies across the traditional arts disciplines and an embrace of new and emerging technologies. David’s award-winning works include live cinema, interactive video, electro-acoustic music and performances that integrate immersive projection as an extension of performer, audience and architecture. His recent projects examine the aesthetic possibilities for generative systems, artificial-life networks and simulation environments. He is cofounder of the interactive media ensemble, NoiseFold, whose installations and performances have been exhibited worldwide. Stout is currently developing new work in electronic sound, visual music, audio-visual transcoding, Virtual Reality, and glassmaking.  His recent foray into generative glass design includes the Artist in Residence (AIR) invitation at the Pilchuck Glass School and Artist in Residence at the Museum of Glass, where his work is in the museum’s permanent collection. Stout previously founded the MOV-iN Gallery for new media art and the Installation, Performance & Interactivity project (IPI) at the College of Santa Fe, (NM). He currently directs the Hybrid Arts Laboratory and coordinates the Initiative for Advance Research in Technology and the Arts (iARTA) at the University of North Texas, where he teaches Intermedia Performance and holds a joint professorship in Music Composition and Studio Art.

https://davidstout.net/