Luke DuBois
Last Monday, Composer’s Forum had the pleasure of hearing Luke DuBois speak. It’s difficult to pin down exactly what he does because his art goes beyond music into the visual, and interactive mediums. As soon as he walked in, questioned the weird podium that no one else seemed to notice, and immediately ask the class if we’ve seen a 1985 movie starring Madonna, I knew this was going to be an unusual class.
I can’t quite pick out a favorite aspect of his presentation, because all of his pieces and installations were so different. However, all of his pieces were unified in that they based themselves on data, and presented information in a powerful and creative manner, and demanded audience engagement. For example, the first piece he explained to us was the matchmaking service he developed from the “Missed Connections” posts on Craigslist, in which he engaged hopeful romantics and used technology to creatively (and hilariously) assist them in their search. The second example he showed was the software he created for his band, attaching security cameras inside of nerf balls for audience members to take and film. The video interacted with the sounds of the band to present a spectrograph of the sounds being played. His creative use of technology and visuals to enhance the performance gave me a lot of ideas to explore in my own compositions and performances.
If I had to pick a favorite, it would be the installation he created for the Democratic National Convention, where he took the most commonly used words from each President during their presidency and placed them in an eye chart, with the most commonly used word appearing biggest. This piece was functional (as an eye chart,) interactive, and demonstrated that sometimes the most powerful statements to make are simply showing facts in a creative way. His artwork felt less personal and more universal; it seemed like he wanted less to show you what he thought about a certain topic, but rather to direct your attention to a specific detail of that topic to make you think about it differently.
Of the music he showed, my favorite was “Hard Data,” where the number of notes he used in each movement of the piece equaled the number of casualties of the US military activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. This piece was hard to listen to, not because it wasn’t beautiful, but because you knew as the movements played note after note, you couldn’t help but think of the person that died and created that note.
Another great example of this was his gun installation, where a gun went off every time someone was shot in that city. In this example, he expressed solemnly to the class “Even though you know someone will have been hurt, you’ll still be disappointed if the gun doesn’t fire while you’re there.” I’ve been thinking about this since Monday, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it, or exactly what he meant. I’d love to hear from other classmates if they have any thoughts specifically about this installation.
I think Luke DuBois was one of the most exciting guests we've had to date, and it was so incredible to see how multifaceted he is in his creative work, all while being a design professor with NYU. His detailed and precise use of data can provide some really interesting projects that give a broad view of culture. In particular, the dating profile work, the DNC eye chart piece, and the compilations of award-winning movies and songs from each year provide a snapshot or quick perspective with interesting nuggets of information that can be funny, odd, and/or informative.
ReplyDeleteI think another work of his that was interesting was the sped-up Handel's Messiah, which "averages out" the harmony and small melodic movements to create this gestalt of sound that's "ringing through your ears." This can be a method for starting other spectral pieces of music.
With regards to the gun installation, I agree that this piece left me thinking deeply about our (perhaps flawed?) expectation for violence, or a result. Is it the fact that piece sets up our expectation that makes this happen? Or is this set-up meant to make us think about our natural tendency to violence? I think that this work could turn the discussion into a very political or philosophical debate, but either way, I think the piece is effective in getting us to think very deeply and wrestle with our personal thoughts and beliefs.
I really enjoy when artists don't constrain themselves to a particular genre or method for creating art, DuBois eclectic method and results was quite refreshing too.
ReplyDeleteYou're right that his art is difficult to pin down. He explores several different mediums and head spaces, but the commonality seems to be his use of data synthesis. Most of his works deal with collecting some kind of data and throwing it back to the audience in one way or another. It's an interesting artistic approach, where rather than unification through medium, his works are unified through a theme across mediums. It's pretty neat.
ReplyDeleteHaving art as a second profession certainly has it's benefits - you can offend and push the envelope without any fear that funding might dry up! Luke is a great example (and a captivating speaker).
ReplyDeleteThe idea that R. Luke DuBois is making art as a "second profession" is one of the most ridiculous, uninformed things I have ever read on this blog. Are you insinuating that he is a professor or educator first & an artist second? And his intent to offend & push an envelope and its relation to funding? DuBois has been the most sociopolitically informed guest that CF has had (at least this semester since I've been present). Do you think that artists who might be offending some & pushing a supposed envelope are not being funded? Just not the case today. In fact the opposite applies.
DeleteI think what Dylan was potentially trying to speak to is that DuBois is tackling a wide range of projects with gusto, and that there are potential benefits to exploring interests in different fields that may or may not overlap. For me, I enjoy doing this as well, as I feel that I always learn something that can be transferred to another of my interests.
DeleteOn the subject of artists and day jobs, I know several composers who are extremely prolific, yet they have other interests or jobs alongside their musical endeavors. Some have even commented that they were able to create what they did because they did not have to worry about a given piece bringing in a certain amount of dollars. Some had separate jobs because they either got paid more, or they simply had multiple interests.
I guess the main thing here is that depending on the individual, there are benefits to be potentially found in not having their art be their day job, but that does not make them—or what they create—any less significant. Heck, if we are on this subject, even Charles Ives may be a poster child for this.
DuBois is clearly dedicated to anything he does be it art, science, or teaching, and I think it shows.
I really enjoyed DuBois’ class, specifically the installation in New Orleans you bring up at the end of your paper. I think what he meant by it is that people want so desperately to be a part of something even when the implications of that participation involves romanticizing death. I thought the piece put the mirror back on the audience so that they may look inward. It’s clear DuBois does not make art for selfish reasons but rather as to craft spaces in which the viewers/listeners are actively challenged. The variety of his work, from the missed connection to the electronic symphony for dead soldiers to the sped up movies all come with a quizzical reaction upon first intake. His artistry comes from peeling those layers back and sitting with the material for a while to decode it for oneself. In that way, his work is universal and personal at the same time.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is difficult to narrow down Luke's profession. Overall I think he is an artist and a very good one. His multiple hats allow him to take risks in areas that a lot of other people can't afford. It definitely shows in his work.
ReplyDeleteLuke DuBois had great energy and attitude towards just the sheer momentum of creating content in whatever capacity which I found inspiring, just to just experiment and try different things which allows for a huge body of work. The artistic expression of social data was certainly a new concept but I can see how it brings statistics into a more human light which I'd like to explore more/ research more.
ReplyDeleteyeah i love his intelligence that he put behind his work and how much he did overall! i thought it was super cool as well that he didn't stick to one subject and figured out of he can test all of the water
DeleteLuke's kaleidoscopic output is incredible, and he clearly thinks a lot about what he is doing. I feel like an artist such as he could easily become gimmicky, too full of "cleverness" and without substance. His gun installation proves this is not so...
ReplyDeleteLuke DuBois was truly a force of energy. He also had, in my opinion, off the charts intelligence resulting in an insatiable curiosity paired with a level of commitment to finishing his particular obsession/task at hand. It was very interesting and I really admired his artistry and drive, but at times, I do wish that instead of talking about a higher volume of projects he spent more time discussing fewer projects in more detail. It was a lot for me to process and was a bit distracting. But overall, DuBois was one of my favorite weeks/speakers!
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