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<aside> 💡 TL;DR:

Personal daily side project to stay sane and kickstart a creative practice during the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic.

Made with Hydra, Ableton Live, TouchDesigner, custom Eurorack synthesizer.

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When/Where

2020 - Quarantined in Chicago, IL

Role

Designer, Performer, Developer

Duration

69 Days

Background

As I began my UX Design career, my personal art practice had slowly fallen to the sidelines. At the time, I probably would’ve said it’s because my job had me too busy - in reality, there were multiple reasons that I fell out of practice, that had left a void in my life that created a dissonant energy.

When Coronavirus hit, I made a realization - nobody knew what was going to happen with the world, but a part of me saw an opportunity to reset. Total quarantine, no social or other pressures on my time, total freedom to pick up the practice that I had let slip away.

Process

I set certain constraints for myself at the outset of this project: I would start from scratch every day, using whatever tools I had at my disposal to create a finished piece of art to share publicly by the time I went to sleep that night.

The process itself was entirely experimental, I used this time to learn new tools including modular synthesis and visual programming languages like Hydra.

HYDRA

As part of this process, I was also building a personal mindfulness practice - being entirely in the moment while creating, while also maintaining a daily meditation practice as well.

Challenges

The primary challenges I faced during this project were emotional ones.

Up until this point, I struggled to consider any personal artwork “finished” - I forced myself to do so, to gain familiarity and confidence in finishing work.

Perhaps the largest challenge was the emotional burden that the pandemic itself presented - the loneliness of the solitude and the uncertainty of the world.

Final Product

69 original audiovisual artworks, selection of which shown below.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/407384763?h=f90f613d3e