DIVA: ReDux

Stefani Byrd with Amy Alexander, Video with Custom Pitch to Color Analyzing Software, 2013

Featuring Original Audio and Video Recordings of Operatic Soprano Andrea Green

Featured in Filmatic Festival, La Jolla, CA, April 30 - May 2, 2015

Utilizing the performance of an operatic singer, DIVA:ReDux showcases the considerable power of music to speak directly to emotions without the need for a shared linguistic language.  The project combines the elements of the recorded performance and the software to create a heightened visual experience. Custom software analyzes the vocal pitch of the singer and changes the color of the video in response to create a simulated sound to color synesthetic experience. Synesthesia is a condition where “stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway.”

Songs for the piece were selected for their weight in expressing emotions such as love, sorrow, joy, and grief. The scale and close up of the face, one of the most expressive parts of the body, is meant to better connect the viewer to the emotions expressed by the music and the performance.The project is a digital, re-contextualized, and democratized outdoor opera.

(A revised version of the 2010 installation DIVA by Stefani Byrd and Wes Eastin)

NOTE: Exists as a large scale public art installation (10ft x 12ft custom shaped tension screen) and a smaller scale gallery installation (4ft x 6ft shaped acrylic screen).