the artistS
Since 2016, this duo of multi-instrumentalists and orchestrators has been gathering audiences around innovative performances and installations that use technology for artistic purposes.
Passionate about art and its universal beauty, they aim to be part of the change in creation, pushing the boundaries of each project from music to visual arts.
Their projects often find themselves at the intersection of sound design, software development and industrial design.
William Simard &
Anthony gagnon boisvert
creative intention
To help audiences experience music in a different way, William Simard and Anthony Gagnon Boisvert wanted to express music visually, or more precisely in color, with Prismaphonik.
Indeed, the work is inspired by synesthesia, a rare perceptual disorder that “mixes the senses” of some humans.
Did you know?
Synesthesia refers to the rare condition where the brain naturally associates two or more senses from a single stimulus.
More specifically, Prismaphonik refers to one form of synesthesia called synopsia! Some call it colored hearing, because it describes the incredible ability to associate sounds with different specific colors, or rather, to “see sounds in colors.”
Artistic Approach
To create their giant orchestra that lets you “see” music in color, William Simard and Anthony Gagnon Boisvert had to think about music in mathematical terms!
In fact, there's nothing random about the colors assigned to the prisms. The colors are determined according to the harmonies played by each of the musician-prisms.
The colors assigned are the result of an algorithmic calculation deduced from the harmonic ratios between the different notes in the composition.
DID you know?
To create what we call "music" requires more than one sound.
To make music, sounds can be combined by being played successively, in which case we speak of MELODY. Melody is the principal part of music. It's what stands out when you listen to music, it's what you retain most easily from a song, and it's often what you'll hum along to when a song is “stuck in your head”.
But music can also be made by playing sounds at the same time. In that case, we're talking about HARMONY. Harmony is the structure on which music relies, it's what enriches the composition.
If the definition of the word “harmony” alludes to a “pleasing combination of different parts” or an "agreement," it is misleading.
In music, we learn that harmony is not the absence of tension, but rather the opposite.
Harmony is a calculated mixture of relationships between notes, a succession of “tensions” and “resolutions” that create the relief of music.
Wait but… what's all this jargon?
Putting the system under tension creates surprises and uncertainties along the path the music will take.
It is this uncertainty, and the friction between certain notes, that stimulates our senses, trigger our emotions and retain our attention.
If music were all about “resolutions”, we'd be bored to death!
Prismaphonik designer William Simard explains it this way:
"THE COMPOSER WRITES HIS MUSICAL PIECE AS A NARRATIVE, WHICH HE NUANCES ACCORDING TO THE RELATIONSHIPS OF TENSION AND RESOLUTION HE CREATES THROUGH HIS CHOICE OF NOTES AND THE ORDER IN WHICH THEY WILL BE PLAYED."
"Based on this principle, the idea was to create an algorithm to measure these relationships live and give us their harmonic ratios. All that remained was to transpose this result onto the color wheel so that it could be associated with a corresponding color. [...]"
"It was essential that the colored light effects and the music be in symbiosis for the work to be truly complete."
Simply put, in Prismaphonik's orchestra of prisms…
If the musical notes played simultaneously are "close" harmonically, or consonant, the colors shown will be similar (or analogous on the color wheel). Similar or analogous colors thus represent moments of harmonical resolution.
If the musical notes played simultaneously are "further" harmonically, or dissonant, the colors shown will be contrasting (or opposite on the color wheel). Contrasting or opposite colors thus represent moments of harmonical tension.
The color wheel.
Analog colors are side by side on the wheel, while contrasting colors are opposite on the wheel.
THE artwork
Prismaphonik is an interactive artwork by William Simard and Anthony Gagnon Boisvert.
This sound and light installation brings together 12 musical prisms into a colorful orchestra and mimics synesthesia: this incredible and rare human faculty to see sounds in colors.
Prismaphonik invites you to become bandmaster for a day and discover different dimensions to music through its multi-sensory experience.
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