Peckham Digital

Artist

Tony James Morton

Blue Marble

Free. Artwork shown as part of main exhibition.

Tony James Morton is a musician, composer, artist and educator whose work focuses on real-time systems aesthetics. These systems created have rules and structures, but within the confines of these boundaries there is enough room for improvisation, chance and probability. This allows for a different interpretation each time, creating unique experiences of sound and vision. His work has been displayed and performed at; OXO Tower Bargehouse (London, UK), IKLECTIK (London, UK), BEAST FEaST (Birmingham, UK) and Studio 47 (Amsterdam, Netherlands). He is a featured composer on the Steam Greenlight computer game “Exception,” and is credited for soundtrack mixing in the independent short film “The King,” by Frederic Casella.

Blue Marble is an interactive audiovisual installation responding to the global climate crisis and the impact us humans are having on the planet.

A “blue marble” is projected, rippling and moving slowly with the motion of its oceans. Its procedurally generated soundscape is calming and tranquil at first, but as crisis approaches, the environment starts to change.

The installation uses machine learning techniques to identify viewers through the use of a camera. These viewers represent an over-consuming populace within the environment. When the number of viewers are low, the piece is calm and tranquil. As the number of viewers increase, the installation responds, becoming more agitated. When the number of viewers exceed the critical ecological threshold, the piece becomes dissonant, distorted and disjointed.

Ironically, the installation is at its most peaceful when there are no viewers to watch.