Ciao

Blossom IV

Jen-Kuang Chang — Tue, 19 May 2009 16:08:36 +0000

Visit Jen-Kuang Chang’s website at www.JKChang.com

Working on Blossom series is one of more delightful happenings in my recent otherwise dull being. During a period that Self is seemingly on and off without proper excuses, time spending on these gorgeous graphics has been a blast as memorable as sharing summer’s very first ice cream cone with my girlfriend.

Blossom IV | 2009| Jen-Kuang Chang

The most immediate artistic brunt is, wait or don’t wait for it, the size. The smallest graph of the series showcases a dangerously fatty 6000 x 6000 pixels of graphical happiness. Not surprisingly, the process of working on Blossom series will soon push my three-year-old, 200 gigabytes, once-mighty dual core computer from quasi-ice-age into a digital diet.

I See What You Mean

Jen-Kuang Chang — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:00:51 +0000

Visit Jen-Kuang Chang’s website at www.JKChang.com

I recently got a fantastic chance to road-trip through Denver, Colorado with my friends. Denver welcomed us with its local radio weather station barking about the incoming snowstorm. But, no worries, we were all penniless musicians and were as brave as Petrushka chord. Besides, we had a date with the blue bear.

I See What You Mean | Lawrence Argent | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

Our darling blue bear is a public artwork installation I See What Your Mean by Lawrence Argent. The gigantic, 40-foot tall blue bear peaked into Denver Convention Center fearlessly. “Ciao, blue bear!” We said. But the blue bear had no time to greet us at all as it was urgently looking for bear-friendly restroom.

Circumference II

Jen-Kuang Chang — Sat, 16 May 2009 18:19:58 +0000

Visit Jen-Kuang Chang’s website at www.JKChang.com

My brain’s filing system is handled by a baby alien octopus of two hundreds and thirty-six arms with an adorable filing style as artistically messy as Jackson Pollock. So all I can say for certain now is that Circumference series was completed somewhere between my visits to the movie theater for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and the new Star Trek movie.

Circumference II | 2009 | Jen-Kuang Chang

The series was essentailly a selection of frames from one of my newly-abandoned After Effects CS3 animation projects. The composition size, aspect ratio locked to Cineon Full 457:333, was resized to 5000 x 3643 pixels in order to produce graphical details. With some modifications in AE’s expression code, the production process then became ridiculously boring due to the limited computer power. I clicked render and then waited like a meat-eating plant Venus’s Flytrap in front of my laptop for three long hours before excecuting my next click.

minimum. & NEBratsche Viola Ensemble

Jen-Kuang Chang — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 05:26:24 +0000

minimum is scored for four parts with flexible and expandable instrumentation. The compositional process was in essence based on the concept of code arts instigated by my not-so-fruitful experiment with Processing software. The oddly amusing part of the compositional process was to spend an era on constructing a formula of which the whole composition was structured and derived upon. The bonus enjoyment for me was to create synchronized animated visual, synced via embedded click track, to accompany the composition. To maintain the spirit of flexibility, I continued my mega-fun to produce six variants of visualization for performers or conductor to choose from.

minimum | 2009 | Jen-Kuang Chang

minimum is scheduled to be premiered by NEBratsche Viola Ensemble on 26 April 2009, featuring fine violists Jeff Bunker, Jonathan Crosmer, Jordan Ellis, Chelsea Hanen, Laura Kilmer, Derek Mosloff, Courtney Watkins, and Lexi Woodard with Clark Potter serving as conductor.

minimum | 2009 | Jen-Kuang Chang | demo | excerpt

Santa Fe, New Mexico & SCI National Conference 2009

Jen-Kuang Chang — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 19:35:30 +0000

April in Santa Fe, New Mexico was simply gorgeous. Air was as pristine as 96Khz/24bit sound and the atmosphere was fun and cheery like George Rodrigue’s blue dog. After 12-or-so-hour of road trip and road trip music, all we needed was a quick sip of beautiful view of the Santa Fe Plaza and we were all suddenly feeling better and ready to boogie.

Santa Fe Plaza | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

The event that we drove all the way to Santa Fe to participate was exhilarating and action-packed. This gathering, hosted by Steven Paxton of College of Santa Fe, featured works by composers such as Annea Lockwood, Charles Ditto, and many others. It felt like few light years ago that I met Annea Lockwood and got to listen to some of her wonderful remarks and works in an event in Florida in the spring of 2008. I was very excited to know that Annea was serving as the keynote speaker for the event in Santa Fe. My excitement can easily be spotted from two miles away just like those oh-no-big-no-no parallel octaves outlined by soprano and bass in part-writing exercise. Annea’s Thirst, featured in the very last concert of the event, was atheistically original and thought-provoking as anticipated.

Santa Fe St. Francis Auditorium | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

In addition to electrifying concert programs, what made us thrilled was that we got the chance to perform one of my compositions in this old building called St. Francis Auditorium, which was located in the Museum of Fine Arts of Santa Fe at 107 West Palace Avenue and have been the home to the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival for many years. St. Francis Auditorium has seating for approximately 450 people and is an exquisite sample of Pueblo Revival architecture. We all stopped all of our everyday thoughts and average worries and contentment to give the building a long wow moment.

Bicycle Built For 2000

Jen-Kuang Chang — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:09:15 +0000

Bicycle Built For 2000, credited to Aaron Koblin and Daniel Massey, utilizes 2,088 voice recordings of Daisy Bell contributed by people from 71 countries through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk service. Daisy Bell, originally composed by Harry Dacre in 1892, was selected by John Kelly, Carol Lockbaum, and Max Mathews back in 1962 for the project realized with IBM 704 computer to create synthesized vocal and accompaniment. Koblin and Massey’s modern attempt demonstrates an attractive direction in creating art works by mass collective.

Bicycle Built For 2,000 Project

Norman, Oklahoma & CMS Conference

Jen-Kuang Chang — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:59:58 +0000

Driving down to Norman, Oklahoma from where we lived in March was a constant exhibition of boundaries between manifestations of Winter and Spring landscapes in the Midwest. Frozen cornfields were replaced by greenery bit by bit as we progressed toward southern terrain. The transformation was visually gradual but emotionally abrupt. We observed the modulation of scenery with suspicion like timid squirrels.

Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

March in Norman was filled with various flowery colors and charms, forming a delicate seasonal aggregate. After hours of driving, we were just in time to participate in a music event hosted by School of Music at University of Oklahoma. We frequented the amiable Campus Cornerdistrict and Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art between paper sessions and concerts.

Boomer at Campus Corner of Norman | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

Concerts and panel discussion session were held in the gorgeous, 1018 seats, Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall and Morris R. Pitman Recital Hall. One of the most interesting facilities of School of Music at University of Oklahoma is the entrance lobby, known as Grayce B. Kerr Gothic Hall, which also doubles as an intriguing performance with the Mildred Andrews Boggess Memorial Organ custom-built according to the floor design.

University of Richmond & Third Practice Festival

Jen-Kuang Chang — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 17:23:09 +0000

The long bus ride from Virginia Museum of Fine Arts to University of Richmond was crammed with leafy scenery and small, single-land boulevards. The charming route ended with an intriguing stop that looked like the gaslight post in the snow-covered forest of Narnia. I did not dress like the Pevensie. No Mr. Tumnus and tea party for me, I guessed.

Westhampton Lake | University of Richmond | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

The University of Richmond was relocated from fan district in 1914 to its current location that consisted of 350 acres. I sneaked into the main dinning hall for a late-morning cup of coffee and was rightfully wowed by the gorgeous and soothingly still Westhampton Lake right outside the window.

Westhampton Lake | University of Richmond | Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

The music event, hosted by Benjamin Broening, was presented by the Department of Music and Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond. The eighth edition of the festival featured Eight Blackbird as the ensemble in residence to premier a work by Estonian composer Toivo Tulev.

Out of this World! Exhibition at San Francisco Airport Museums

Jen-Kuang Chang — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 20:42:01 +0000

On my way to California State University-Stanislaus to participate in a music event hosted by Deborah Kavasch, who was a graceful and elegant composer and also a fine soprano specializing in extended vocal techniques, I was jammed in San Francisco International Airport due to the high wind and the unstable weather condition. In addition to fabulously expensive international cuisines that SFO has to offer in Terminal 3, I was thrilled to have the chance to check out the Out of this World! The Twentieth-Century Space Invasion of American Pop Culture exhibition to exterminate six-hour-long flight delay.

Out of This World! Exhibition | Sculpture by Clayton Bailey| Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

With 300 objects in display, four life-size sculptures created by Clayton Bailey caught my eyes. These huge robotic creatures were sleek and metallic with futuristic goofy expressions. I stood in front these space-age titans while finishing a pack of peanuts saved from my previous flight with well-behaved giggles.

Out of This World! Exhibition | Sculpture by Clayton Bailey| Photo by Jen-Kuang Chang

My Secret Heart

Jen-Kuang Chang — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:10:47 +0000

My Secret Heart is a multimedia work created by composer Mira Calix, video artist Flat-e, and sound designer Dave Sheppard for Streetwise Opera. 17th-century Italian composer Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere Mei was selected by Calix and Flat-e for its “theme of secrecy” as the primary musical inspiration. The work is presented as an installation on 360 degree screen with surround sound and stunning visual.

My Secret Heart Project