Haley Wright
AIMM 219
Chrysalism is an exploration of the intersection of sound design and visual art, painting original piano music through animations dynamically projected onto sculpture.
Inspired by the introspective emotions that rain can evoke, the music and visuals of Chrysalism are intended to combine to create a meditative experience for visitors. Calming yet engaging animations are cued by key moments in peaceful instrumental piano music, synthesizing an experience in which one cannot tell whether the visuals cued the music—or vice versa. These visuals are projected on laser-cut circles mounted on the wall, extending into the three-dimensional space of the installation room. The combination of physical and projected textures, colors, and music fuses to create a relaxing audio-visual experience, hopefully producing a moment of inner stillness for visitors.
Why Chrysalism?
I built Chrysalism because it allowed me to fuse many of my interests—music composition, audio production, 2D animation, and digital fabrication—with an area that is new to me, projection mapping, into one fun yet challenging project. I am hoping that the project will not only showcase my creative and technical abilities but also create an emotional impact on those who come to experience my work.
Chrysalism
n. the amniotic tranquility of being indoors during a thunderstorm, listening to waves of rain pattering against the roof like an argument upstairs, whose muffled words are unintelligible but whose crackling release of built-up tension you understand perfectly.
— The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, written by John Koenig
What does Chrysalism mean?
How did was Chrysalism built?
I created Chrysalism in many stages, with several tools. This project required a lot of iteration and the testing of several different methods and tools, so I learned a lot in the process!
On the music side, I started by composing the piano music for the project, then recorded my piano performance in TCNJ’s Mayo Concert Hall with the help of Mark Kalinowski and Gianna Marrano. I then mixed and mastered the recordings in the TCNJ recording studio with the help of Evan White.
On the design side, I designed the wall sculpture in Adobe Illustrator, cut it out using the laser cutter in the TCNJ Makerspace, and assembled it. I created all of the animations in Adobe After Effects and brought them into MadMapper to project them onto the wall sculpture.
About Me
I’m an Interactive Multimedia senior with minors in Graphic Design and Music Technology. I love to explore my many interests—including graphic design, music composition, creative coding, and experience design—and get most excited when I can combine these skills to devise creative solutions to complex problems.