Fluoresce, meaning ‘the act of becoming fluorescent’, is an exploration into the composition of dynamic spatio-timbral objects, and their expressive use as motivic materials. Just as complex timbre, when understood spatially, can be described in terms of focal plane — fore, mid, and background layers — the gestalt of complex spatial organization can be understood as timbre. Tracing sound, physical gesture, and spatial process to their irreducible components, there forms a relational network which functions across medium. Through this tracing, the relationships between component sub-processes are empirically exposed, forming connections between the articulation of acoustic and electronic sound, instrumental gesture, and their combined spatial organization.

The title Fluoresce relates to this process of transferral between medium, and the exposure of hidden forms — acoustic sounds becoming synthetic and spatially dynamic, like the spatial shift that occurs as our eyes adjust to a black lit room. Originally composed for hybrid Wave Field Synthesis and Higher Order Ambisonics, the piece exposes different parts of itself in new spaces and configurations. Depending on speaker placement and nuance of the bow, the piece’s flocking particles, synthetic extensions and bending spherical harmonics disperse and compress into new forms and perspectives — continuously reconfiguring itself in space.

fluoresce was composed for ircam's espace de projection, during my 2012 research residency with the acoustic and cognitive spaces team. the long horizontal bars in the image are the four WFS arrays, the smaller rectangles are the speakers that make up the HOA array.

the best place to compose for the system is right in the middle of the room