My friend and I decided to go to the Miller Gallery right on campus. It was a secret and surprisingly elaborate venue that I didn't know existed at CMU. We took our time exploring the three floors of the museum where we found that every piece had a unique way of combining sound, visuals, and audience interaction. Finally after exploring the entire gallery, I chose a piece that had both the largest impression and meaning to me.
Right when I walked into the Miller Gallery, there was something particular about the first floor. Behind the gracious museum greeter, there was a dark and elaborate room tucked behind her. At first, I wasn't sure if it was even an exhibit, so I decided to explore the rest of the gallery on the first floor but taking side glances into the side room.
As I peeked into the room, I could see a spinning mirror reflecting off light from a vibrating flame. When I got closer to the room, I could see large glass flasks hanging from the ceiling with their mouths over black pipes coming out of the cement floor. I took a step into the room and I could see a gas tube that connected the flasks with the gas pipe that powered the flame.
There were two clear sets of objects. One set was the glass flasks hanging over the black pipe which was connected to the flame and mirror. The other set was almost identical except the black pipe was much taller. As I got closer to the black pipe, I couldn't see anything coming out of it. I expected maybe a gust of air that was somehow powering all of this. I hovered around the area expecting more but stepped back and felt little confused.
Until I heard it. It was like a little heart beat coming out of the black pipes. There was something joyous about hearing that shy and deep sound. It was like hearing a heart beat from from a mother's first ultrasound. It was quiet but powerful.
We decided to explore the rest of the gallery, but that piece stuck in my mind the longest. It created the biggest impression and something that left more to explore and understand.
I wanted bring out that experience of heart beats coming and going out in darkness. Creating abstract digital art to represent my experience at the Miller Gallery was very entertaining. Picking just the right color to represent the dark background and the flame like heart beats took a lot of thought and time. Then choosing the perfect texture of the what I can imagine heart beats was also another iterative process. I began to understand a fraction of Paul DeMarinis work into creating Helmholtz. He was using flames and darkness to bring out a visual representation of the computer made sounds from beneath the pipes. His execution was impeccable, and I enjoyed creating a abstract art reflection of my experience with his work. I understood the time he must have spent on his work and how modern art is approaching the human senses in new ways to bring out unique experiences.
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