KenKen GS (interior view)
Installation at Gridspace, Brooklyn, NY
April, 2011. Photo: Paul McGeiver

KenKen GS is a new installation work that continues Galbraith’s exploration of a tightly-coupled yet non-linear and generative relationship between image and sound.

The work’s compositional basis includes the structure and expanded numerical content of four KenKen puzzles, historical color scales that propose different mappings from musical pitch to color hue, and 15 resonant acoustic frequencies taken from various locations within Gridspace.

KenKen GS is generated in real-time by custom software, and features abstract graphics formatted with reference to the wooden grid of 12 two-foot-square “cubicles” normally used for exhibitions at the Gridspace storefront gallery. The piece has a linear temporal structure and loops after the 19-minute video animation sequence completes.

6:21, color animation with sound

Custom software generated the animation and affected the analog synthesizer soundtrack. The work is a direct capture of the audiovisual output of the system.