Russell Chartier + Paul j. Bothelho | Confined
video: http://palmetto.loyno.edu/~paul/confined/
Statement
In this piece Russell J. Chartier explores the sense of confinement that many people feel living in large
cities despite the many people around them. The piece, created using manipulated footage shot
throughout NYC, consists of textures comprised of feedback loops uplinked to satellites then downlinked
back to Earth. These “feedback loops” were manipulated with various pieces of broadcast
equipment through the looping process and were then further manipulated in the post production
process. The textures and manipulated footage were then woven together to create this work.
The musical component of this work was created through the use of a granular sampling algorithm
developed by the composer, Paul J. Botelho The algorithm, written in the ChucK programming
language, randomly chooses small fragments (grains) from an input sound, shapes their attack and
decay, and then creates textures of user-specified density constructed of the sound fragments. The
algorithmically-generated textures were then manipulated and layered to create this work.
The piece was created through synchronicity—the composer Botelho and video artist Chartier had no
knowledge of each other's component and worked only with an agreed upon duration during the
creation of their individual pieces. Only upon the completion of both the video and audio components
were two components combined to create “Confined 10-01-2”.