Emulsify 2

  • Roles: concept development, experimental screenprinting, sound development

Emulsify 2 was an exploration of visual media which made little use of computers and emphasized analog image creation. Materials uncommonly associated with the screenprinting production method were "misused" in order to create abstract and complex images.

This project had its own set of rules and boundaries. A computer could not be used to generate images. Prints were unique, in that only one could be made at a time due to the materials used.

This newfound toolset of weird screenprinting materials was used as a way to respond to audio data; a five-second, infinitely looping audio composition which was written/performed/recorded with a guitar and effects pedals. Responding to this five-second loop with screenprinting was a difficult task. How were these sounds to be interpreted via screen and ink?

The base, or structure of the song was a series of reversed reverberated chords that emulated the feeling of floating; the two chords bounced back and forth, naturally and peacefully, slightly bleeding into each other with graceful transitions. Perhaps as if the sounds were clouds; they were represented visually with a dusty powder which bursted across a layer of rich blue ink. The four distinct plucks of guitar strings were transfigured into four golden squares. Those four squares echoed the idea of musical notation across the print; meandering up and down with horizontal movement.

During one of the GDES open houses, the final screenprint was displayed on a wall, surrounded by a series of initial test prints. Also adjacent to the prints were a set of headphones which connected to a cassette tape loop, set to play the five-second looped audio alongside the print for the entire exhibition.