How do you compress 365 days of your life into 11 minutes? Ask
Brian House, a media artist who's work blends technology, music and data into one.
For one year, House documented his every move (geographical locations, daily activities, etc.) with
OpenPaths, a data locker that tracks and stores your whereabouts. With those documentations he was able to then assign a certain step in the musical scale and/or key to each part of his life. Combine those notes together and an eloquent composition results from sleeping, eating, walking, visiting, cleaning and a host of other mundane activities we partake in on a day to day basis.
Equally as impressive and well thought-out is the physical manifestation of House's tech-musical diary. The data collected and the musical composition led to a record design that displays an infographic resembling a cross-section of a tree trunk, which specifies time, dates and places. As the record plays on the turntable, the listener can follow and track House's movements and listen to time pass.
365 days x 1.8 minutes* ÷ 60 seconds = how you brilliantly capsulize a whole year's worth of activities into 11 minutes.
In a world where everyone documents and edits their lives to formulate a suitable public image of themselves, it's great to see (and hear) an approach that keeps the author honest and authentic about what is happening in his life.
* time needed for 1 rotation of the record
Quotidian Record from
Brian House on
Vimeo.