Celestial Harmonies – Alberto Novello (IT)


Alberto Novello (JesterN) is an Italian scientist, composer, multimedia artist. His main focus is the creation of probabilistic multi-media architectures, on the technological limit between instability and error, failure and expression. His works have been presented at Centre Pompidou in Paris, BoCA- Biennial of Contemporary Arts, Amsterdam Dance Event, New York Computer Music Festival, Seoul Computer Music Festival. He is currently teacher of Electronic Music at the Conservatory of Padua.

In a world that quickly forgets the past, I went back in time to the era of analog technologies to scavenge and resurrect what’s been left behind. They call it “Media Archaeology”: brushing off the dust from old tools from a civilisation that hastily jumped into the digital world and left behind forgotten ghosts. These tools have strong personalities: they show a unique fluidity compared to their digital successors. In Celestial Harmonies I have hacked a Vectrex, a game console from the 80s, to bring it back to life as a hybrid zombie: half analog, half digital. I chose it for its vibrant beam and I hacked it so that I could draw shapes with sound. I tell a story about space geometries and harmonic ratios with Light and Sound perfectly synchronised in a simple but powerful synesthetic discourse.

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