Selected Works

* Please note, the videos may take a while to stream from the YouTube server depending on the speed of your connection

The Imaginary Menagerie (2008)

"The Imaginary Menagery" was a large scale intermedia work that Luke was commissioned to write for the opening of the 2008 Adelaide Festival of Arts. Featuring experimental electro-acoustic band Hidden City with additional members from the Zephyr String Quartet , this work combined Artificial Intelligence with free improvisation. Samples and pre-composed score fragments for the string players were triggered across a wireless network of 5 computers in response to the improvisations of saxophonist Derek Pascoe. The projections that freatured on the walls of the hall throughout each set were generated by Luke through a combination of data mining and Game Theory using MaxMSP / Jitter. These utilised the same algorithms as the interactive software used in the performance.

The premiere contained 3 sets, each of which was different, attracting an audience of around 1000 people in Elder Hall. We were thrilled to perform in front of such a big crowd, and are grateful to the Elder Conservatorium of Music for their kind support.

The performers were: Stephen Whittington (piano), Derek Pascoe (sax), Lauren Sutter (Commodore 64) Seb Tomczak (Abelton Live) Luke Harrald (Generative IPD software over a network of 5 computers + projections) Emily Tulloch (violin), Karen De Nardi (viola) and Hilary Kleinig (Cello). Mixed by Christian Haines.

Videos on right: Top - An extract from towards the end of the second set, synced with one of the video projections from the performance. Bottom - An extract live from the third set.

Monuments (2006)

Monuments is an installation for video and quad surround that was written in the studios at the Centre de Creation Musicale Iannis Xenakis (CCMIX) while I was attending the Electronic Music Summer Intensive in 2006.

Inspired by the many fantastic cathedrals in Paris, particularly Notre Dame, and Parisian night life, Monuments aims to conjure a feeling of darkness being illuminated by various sources, for example stained glass, the bright lights that illuminate the many Parisian monuments at night or dawn through the pyramid at Muse de Louvre. Stan Brakhage's Chartres Series (1994), which was itself inspired by a trip to Chartres Cathedral, was also an inspiration.

Drowning (2006)

Inspired by Annea Lockwood's 'Piano Transplants', a piano was submerged in a clear plastic tank and excited in various ways using jets of water and different objects. These improvised sounds were recorded and then remixed for the installation in real-time by computer; the remixed sounds are played through the soundboard of the piano using waterproof piezzo drivers. Hydrophones then pick up the sound of the piano from inside the tank, and project these sounds through speakers to the audience. The soundtrack accompanying the photographs is an example of one of the computer generated remixes.

Drawing on a sculptural approach somewhat similar to the work of Damian Hirst, here the placement is more about destruction than preservation, and in contrast to his work, is more about action than the object itself.

Irene's Myth 3 (2005)

Irene’s Myth was commissioned through the Sight Specific Music project and was written in response to the work of Annette Bezor.

Several themes from Bezor's work are explored; particularly the iconisation of image, the depiction and objectification of women in the popular media and the commodification of art.

CONflict (2004)

CONflict was the result of a collaboration with film maker Hugh McLean. Drawing on his film 'World without end' (2003), 14 stills were extracted and manipulated algorithmically using a modified Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma Game in MaxMSP/Jitter.

Sonically, the work uses a set of justly tuned sine tones based on the 18 tone tuning of 17th C harpsichord builder Joan Albert Ban (1597 - 1644).

The sound and visuals are both manipulated by the same algorithmic process, and when installad, the work is run from a laptop allowing the viewer to revisit the work afresh with each encounter.

CONflict was originally premiered as part of Project 2 in 2005. It was subsequently shown as part of the Project 3 street cinema in the 2006 Adelaide Festival of Arts.

Audio Extracts

fr@gm3nT (2007) was the result of a 6 month collaboration between Luke Harrald and Derek Pascoe. Utilising Luke's ENSEMBLE interactive software for the first time, in performance, Derek takes on a virtual ensemble of saxophone weilding cyber agents in a battle for control of the performance. Will the agents follow Derek's creative initiatives or ignore them? The work is different and surprising each time it is performed.

Give in to Light (2006 - 2008) is an orchestral piece generated by Luke's IPD Score Generator Application, which generates works through through an ensemble of agents playing the Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma. This application was the basis for the interactive software used in fr@gm3nT.

You can read about these works in much more detail here.