Catalogue > At random

Brad Todd

3050 K

Vidéo | mp4 | couleur | 9:27 | Canada | 2021

3050 K is an AI/Neural Net project which utilizes imagery of stage lighting (floods, spots, footlights, gels) sourced from 70 concerts and performances of rock music from the 1970’s. These images are in turn used as primary material for a Neural Net and provide the training model for the resultant imagery. The images which are generated from this process are visualizations of emergent forms and tableau which are the offspring of the original material. These images are then re-processed and provide the individual frames for a video representation of the GAN’s procedural and generative algorithmic creation. The hypnotic and somnambulant visuals are accompanied by a score I created, composed of a number of heavily processed aural artifacts from the era. The title ’3050 K’ is in reference to the average number of Kelvins used in stage and theatrical lighting.

Brad Todd is an artist whose works span several fields of inquiry, principally involving the research/creation of responsive environments which implicate technology as a mirror, filter and catalyst for experience writ large in both an individually embodied sense and its attendant broader socio-political context. Recent and past projects have focused on issues of visualizing and conditioning invisible, abstract and liminal material such as EMF, infrasonics, aggregate data and microclimates, while in other works the content is more explicit and political. Having received an M.F.A. from Concordia University (Montréal), he began playing music in the post-punk band Sofa, which released the inaugural album and single on the Constellation Records label. From the generative and reactive to the composed and performative, audio and sound design continues to play a key role in his works. Brad has received numerous grants and awards and has exhibited his works in galleries and media festivals in North America, South and Central America, Asia and Europe. Presently he is an instructor in the Design and Computation Arts program at Concordia University in Montréal.