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  © 2010 Nisi Jacobs | Drawtoy. All Rights Reserved.  

 

 
Synchroma
The project Synchroma derives video imagery entirely from sound, via analog-digital conversion hardware/software whereby each color channel is driven by a separate audio stream: red, green and blue. Extremes of frequency are used, varying from 0.013 to 43,000 Hz, to produce variations in palette, tempo, shape, direction, pattern. Once harvested, the synthesized color fields become the basis for improvisations set to multiple vibrant scores.  Among this array of hardware/software, a core device is the 'Synchronator' developed by Gert-Jan Prins and Bas van Koolwijk during a video and audio research residency at Impakt 2006, currently distributed by the Netherlands Media Art Institute.  2010
 
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Video Stills

video stills & archival prints

I use audio to video conversion via analog converter hardware and digital spectrographic analysis software to generate raw visual material. These moving heat graphs that turn sound into imagery form the material from which my video performance and stills evolve.
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synchronator frames
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spectral world spectral world
synchronator frames synchronator frames synchronator frames spectral world
      The size, palette, density and speed of sound files are the stars of these movies.
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pixelation toy i pixelation toy ii oil blue i oil blue ii  
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synchronator frames oil blue
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spectral synchronator frames

 

Synchroma Video Stills

Language - Image - Sound

My practice involves finding pathways from one medium to another. I uses experience to make text, vocalized text to create recorded sound files, spectral analysis to generate projected imagery, midi bass to trigger text samples, and triggered text samples to generate spectrographic imagery.

"A sound spectrum is a representation of a sound...in terms of the amount of vibration at each individual frequency. It is usually presented as a graph of either power or pressure as a function of frequency."
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Finding pathways from one medium to another evolves with the abandonment of static boundaries, categorization, differentiated thinking over unified thinking. Images induce memories, associations, symbolism and language equivalences. Adding or reducing layers of sound that accompanies imagery (such as during a video, film, or performance in a room of paintings), the tone, warmth, weight, sense of light, and interpretation shift and morph. To switch and interplay between typically separate mediums can at times confuse, frustrate, seem chaotic - but it is from conflict, new solutions arise. Boundaries are challenged. Mediums co-mingle and gestate ideas which thrive on newly shared borders. There are creative answers that only fit unusual questions. It is in responding to that which is unseen, unheard, unknown and intuitively guiding technology through methods that utilize all necessary aspects of the machine we are organized by and which we aim to organize, that new shapes are formed.

A vital machine aesthetic - through pixels and samples - occurs by the way artists spur, capture, warp, destroy, destroy again, to create. To see a tree and record it to digital tape, capture this data to a digital flow of pixels, then arrive at a result which depicts more or less a rendition of the 'authentic' tree does not allow an artist to share their vision or experience of the tree. Ultimately, the machine and its nature is what allows the creative person to find and express their human nature. Pixels and samples are as cells to a newborn. A digital recording is fundamentally digital, therefore available to all expressive liberties one desires to take upon it. What one does with their pixels is entirely a personal matter. In shaping a spectrographic image, one can watch for density, speed, palette, and size, all of which are entirely independent of the meaning, feeling, memory, and associations embedded in the sound file. A transformation from one kind of experience (sonic) to another (visual) occurs, boundaries typically simple and restricted, are broken, freed, and complicated. Likewise, associations, memories and experiences are transcoded into strings of words - through writing - which embodies text and then sound. Text sounds can be played, analyzed, and produce imagery, and imagery embodies and allies with language and sound. Therein lies a fulcrum for infinite exploration and expression.

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recent audio experiments of mine... click for audio player
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Danny Morris (D Mo) is an exquisite bass player, performer, and teacher. I've been lucky enough to study music, the bass in particular, and life with D Mo at Berklee Music for the past two years. Currently studying R&B Bass... electric bass is the best instrument and course of study that's ever happened in my life besides the life-long study of funk and the unfunk.
 
"Funk is on the one" - D Mo
 
You can learn more about the magical D Mo at:http://go.berkleemusic.com/DMorris1
   
   
   
   

Nisi Jacobs works with video, sound, language, music, digital imagery and processing. The basis of her work involves finding pathways from one medium to another. Jacobs collaborates on installation and performance with composer/sound artist, Michael J. Schumacher (DRAW); other collaborations have been with poet Bruce Andrews, violinist Tom Chiu, sound artist David Gailbraith, and percussionist James Gailbraith (Padtech), sound artist Andre Goncalves, indie band Aeroplane Pageant, etc.

Jacobs has presented work at the Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid, Jeu De Paume Museum in Paris, Haus der Kulturen der Welt in Berlin, SONAR festival at the Caracas Contemporary Art Museum, CalArts Film/Video Cinematheque, The Alejandro Otero Museum, the National Cinématheque of Spain, Maya Stendhal Gallery, Manchester Metropolitan University of England, Tribeca Film Festival 2003, River-To-River Festival, and Hong Kong Film Festival, Happy New Ears Festival, Ear to the Ear Festival, among other venues. Jacobs performed live video with pop bands at The Bowery Ballroom, PIANOS NYC, The Living Room, Mercury Lounge, Music Hall of Williamsburg and curated video/film in 5.1 surround sound for SYNCH FESTIVAL in Greece, The Phatory Gallery, and HOWL Film Festival in NYC. The soundtrack for DISHING was listed as KQED radio's on-line choice of the month for EARSHOT: LISTEN TO A FILM WITHOUT PICTURES, ‘02. Nisi teaches video and sound editing at NYU and Soho Editors in NYC, and is an Apple Certified trainer in Apple's Final Cut Studio. Jacobs assists Ken Jacobs as video-sound editor. Among the many works she has assisted in editing, STAR SPANGLED TO DEATH, a 4-part internationally distributed documentary, won The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award by the LA Film Critics in 2005, enjoying screenings in Brussels, Paris, Vienna, Holland, Hong Kong, MoMa, Lincoln Center, London Film Festival, and Slovenia.

Jacobs holds a BFA in Painting from The Cooper Union. Her videos have screened in festivals at the Jeu De Paume Museum in Paris, Tribeca Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Festival, Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid, Maya Stendhal Gallery, SONAR festival at the Caracas Contemporary Art Museum, CalArts Film/Video Cinematheque, The Alejandro Otero Museum, National Cinématheque of Spain, and Manchester Metropolitan University of England, among others. Two videos opened this summer's River-to-River film festival in Lower Manhattan and she and sound artist, Michael Schumacher, shared a commission to create a multi-channel audio and multi-screen video performance at the 2008 'Ear to the Earth Festival' at Judson Church. Schumacher's recent CD release entitled 'Weaves', distributed by En’tract, includes two videos for two tracks on the disk.

   
Selected Performance Distribution  

2009: DRAW, Happy New Ears Festival, Belgium
2009: DRAW, Q-02 Festival
2009: DRAW, Diapason Gallery, NYC
2009: Music piece, ‘And She Knows’ included
on soundtrack of ‘Anaglyph Tom’ by Ken Jacobs
2009: DRAW, Weaves disc, distributed by En’tract (release date 2010)
2009: DRAW, Padtech, Diapason Gallery, NYC
2008: DRAW, Tom Chiu/Andre Goncalves, Monkeytown, NYC
2008: DRAW, Ear to the Earth Festival, Judson Church, NYC
2008: DRAW, Bruce Andrews/Alex Waterman, Monkeytown, NYC
2008: DRAW, Aki Onda, Alan Licht, Keir Neuringer & dj sniff, ECA, NYC
2008: The Living Room
2008: Bowery Ballroom
2008: PIANOS
2008: Mercury Lounge
2008: DRAW, Red Room, Baltimore
2008: DRAW, The Stone, NYC
2008: Williamsburg Hall of Music
2008: River-to-River Film Festival
2007: National Cinématheque of Spain
2007: The Alejandro Otero Museum

2007: Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin
2007: Circulo de Bellas Artes of Madrid
2007: Jeu De Paume Museum, Paris
2005: Maya Stendhal Gallery, REPETITIONS
2005: Maya Stendhal Gallery, VITAL SIGNS, Commission2005: Maya Stendhal Gallery, FRAGMENTS IN PARADISE
2005: Artist Visit: New School Film Department
2005: The Phatory Gallery
2005: HOWL Film Festival
2005: SYNCH FESTIVAL, Athens, Greece
2005: SONAR festival at the Caracas Contemporary Art Museum
2005: CalArts Film/Video Cinematheque
2004: Artist Visit: Massachusetts College of Art
2004: Artist Visit: New School Film Department2004: Manchester Metropolitan University of England
2004: Rencontres Festival, Paris
2003: San Francisco Cinemathequediapa
2003: Rencontres Festival, Paris
2003: Tribeca Film Festival
2003: Hong Kong Film Festival
2002: EARSHOT: LISTEN TO A FILM WITHOUT PICTURES/ KQE radio's on-line choice of the month
2002: Millennium Film Workshop
2002: Anthology Film Archives
The New York Film-Makers Cooperative
RoArtario Paris/Berlin
Light Cone Paris
 
Apple Training
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Nisi Jacobs has been editing with Final Cut Pro since 2000 when she began assisting Apple's programmers at Oxygen Network while Final Cut Pro 1.1 was in development. Jacobs fielded feedback from Oxygen's staff editors, migrated from Media 100 to Final Cut Pro beta systems, which was delivered to on-site programmers who would then design or re-design the application based on this feedback. Jacobs is an Apple Certified Trainer in Motion 3, FCS 2 Motion Graphics, and various levels and versions of Final Cut Pro. Jacobs uses the Final Cut Studio 2 suite to prepare and produce her performance video content with Final Cut Pro 6 and Motion 3, prepares sequences for web and DVD distribution with Compressor, and creates professional multi-menu'd DVDs with DVD Studio Pro. Jacobs teaches Final Cut Pro, Motion 3, and Motion Graphics and Effects in Final Cut Studio 2 at Soho Editors NYC, NYU Graduate Center for Advanced Digital Applications, and Future Media Concepts.
     
Teaching Experience   Editing Experience
Jacobs has instructed at NYU CADA since 2005. The course, entitled "Editing for Special Effects with Final Cut Pro" is part of a two-year graduate program specializing in preparing students for the world of high-end video graphics compositing and special effects artistry. Jacobs' editing class assists special effects designers in better grasping the craft and techniques of nonlinear editing so that they fully comprehend the editor's job. Jacobs has been teaching this class most semesters at CADA since 2005 with an emphasis on sound editing for film. Some students have gone on to submit work from the 15-week academic course to festivals.   Besides serving as editor for the '9/11 ORAL HISTORY ARCHIVE PROJECT' for New York University, Ms. Jacobs spent from 2001-2005 as a full-time professional editor on several productions by Avant-garde filmmaker, Ken Jacobs, and other freelance editing productions. During this time, films she assisted with won 'The Douglas Edwards Experimental/Independent Film/Video Award by the Los Angeles Film Critics, 2005' and enjoyed screenings at Argosfestival, Brussels, Centre Pompidou Museum, Paris, Festival International Nouveau Cinema, Montreal, Artopos, Greece, CAL ARTS, Starz Denver Film Festival, Colorado University, Cinematexas, Oesterreiches Filmmuseum, Vienna, Rotterdam Film Festival, Hong Kong Film Festival, MoMa at the Gramercy Theater, Chicago Filmmakers, NY Film Festival at Lincoln Center, London Film Festival, The American Museum of the Moving Image, and Tribeca Film Festival.
Present Sites   Current Editing Position

NYU CADA
  Graduate Center For Advanced Digital Applications

Soho Editors NYC


Editor - Ken Jacobs LLC
Previous Sites   Apple Certifications
The New School
Manhattan Edit Workshop
The Edit Center
BMCC
New York Film Academy
NYU Department of Film, Video, and Broadcasting
Future Media Concepts
Harvestworks
Cyclone Pictures, Inc.
Private Clients
  All Levels of FCP 5
Final Cut 6 Level I
Final Cut 7 Level I
Motion 3, Motion 4
Final Cut Studio 2

 

DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher [sound] + Nisi Jacobs [video]

DRAW's compositions form the basis for improvisations involving processed video, algorithmically generated sound and live musicians. Through experimentation and dialogue, they explore in depth the relation between sound and image. Their practice involves a number of strategies, such as coupling specific sound and image sequences, using multi-channel setups for video + sound, role-switching, and exploring notational techniques.

Formed in the summer of '07, DRAW has evolved a unique style of algorithmic ever-changing MIDI audio video performance and installation. Each member has an extensive record of work in experimental art and sound. Jacobs has presented her films and videos at the SONAR festival and the Tribeca Film Festival 2003 and Schumacher has been active on the experimental music scene since the late 1980s. He has released 5 solo CDs and is on a number of compilations. His disc "Room Pieces" was rated "best of 2003" in its category by Wire Magazine. He specializes in sound installations and runs a "sound art" gallery, Diapason Gallery.

www.drawnyc.comwww.youtube.com/drawnyc1www.myspace.com/drawnyc1
Synchroma
Performance Stills - Belgium 2009
  The project Synchroma derives imagery entirely from sound, via analog-digital conversion hardware/software whereby each color channel is driven by a separate audio stream: red, green and blue. Extremes of frequency are used, varying from 0.013 to 43,000 Hz, to produce variations in palette, tempo, shape, direction, pattern. Once harvested, the synthesized color fields become the basis for improvisations set to multiple vibrant scores.  Among this array of hardware/software, a core device is the 'Synchronator' developed by Gert-Jan Prins and Bas van Koolwijk during a video and audio research residency at Impakt 2006, currently distributed by the Netherlands Media Art Institute.  2010
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Happy New Ears - Kotrijk, Belgium, September 27 2009
Live performance with 2 screen projection / 4 channel sound,
Q-02 - Brussels, September 28 2009
Live performative installation with 2 screen projection and 8 channel sound,
Spectrum
Sound and video installation. Exhibited at Diapason, Brooklyn, NY, June 2009. 3 screen video projection and 8 channel sound. An extended installation across both of Diapason's exhibition spaces consisting of three-channel spectrographic video and eight-channel sound (SPECTRUM SUITE), archival prints of spectrographic compositions, and a twelve channel sound work (GLACIER WITH STILLS) with dual-channel video.

The process at the core of SPECTRUM is the visualization of sound through spectrographic analysis, which breaks up a complex wave into its constituent parts and displays them on a 2 or 3 dimensional grid. These analyses and their corresponding sounds form the basis for each complex layered composition.

Spectrum Suite is a dance music installation in 3 parts. The music is “lit” by its own signature: spectrographix. The light is pulsed by its modulation source: amplitude. In 6 parts, 3 of which are sonic and 3 (simultaneous) light projections. Interconnected by wizardry.

"A sound spectrum is a representation of a sound...in terms of the amount of vibration at each individual frequency. It is usually presented as a graph of either power or pressure as a function of frequency."

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2006-2009
Reviews  

Jacobs created live video performances for indie band Aeroplane Pageant at Pianos NYC, Williamsburg Hall of Music, The Bowery Ballroom, Mercury Lounge, Grace Space Gallery, etc. pic
performa
the villager
filmmaker magazine
maya stendhal gallery
binary code
film series from on high
elevated cinema
WBAI pic
feast of music
the wire, UK
emf productions
 
rhizome
listening in
turbulence
artsci.ucla
free103point9
rhizome
superfuture
world music
downtown express
avantnews
 
12.09
DRAW
Entr'acte CD Release
UK
WEAVE
CD by Michael J. Schumacher/ video by Nisi Jacobs
http://www.entracte.co.uk
9.27.09
DRAW
Performance
Brussels, Belgium
Q-O2
http://www.q-o2.be/nl/
9.27.09
DRAW
Performance
Brussels, Belgium
Happy New Ears FestivalKortrijk
http://www.happynewears.be
6.26.09
AEROPLANE PAGEANT
Performance

Mercury Lounge
Mercury Lounge NYCDoors 7:30PM
http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com

6.1.09-6.30.09
DRAW
Multichannel Installation
Diapason Gallery
June, Saturdays and by appointment
Diapason Gallery
http://www.diapasongallery.org
5.30.09
AEROPLANE PAGEANT
Performance
Pianos
Pianos NYCRecord Release Party, Showtime 10 PM
http://www.pianosnyc.com/
5.13.09

DRAW
Performance

RAKE
Wednesday, May 13, 8 PM
RAKE @ MonkeyTown
http://rake.hellbender.org/
2.26.09
DRAW and Padtech
A Mixt Event
Diapason Gallery
Thursday, Februrary 26, 8 PM
Diapason Gallery
http://www.diapasongallery.org
1.9.09
DRAW
w/ Tom Chiu
& Andre Goncalves
Monkey Town
Friday, January 9, 10 PM
Monkey Town
http://www.monkeytown.com
10.25.08
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
The Red Room, Baltimore
Saturday, October 25, 8 PM
Baltimore
http://www.redroom.org/
10.11.08 - 10.14.08
DRAW
Multi-channel Performance
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
Ear to the Earth Festival
October 11-14, 8 PM
Judson Church, NYC
http://www.eartotheearth.org/php/
http://www.emfproductions.org
10.13.08
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
Interview on WBAI
Monday, October 13, 2pm
CAT RADIO w/ Janet Coleman
http://www.wbai.org
9.18.08 pic
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
Monkey Town
Thursday, September 18, 8 PM
Monkey Town, Williamsburg
http://www.monkeytown.comhttp://blog.hanrahanmeyers.com/2008/
8.5.08
HETH & JED / NISI JACOBS
HETH & JED, music
Nisi Jacobs, video
Mercury Lounge
August 5, 2008, 9:30 PM
http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com/http://www.hethandjed.com
8.5.08
NISI JACOBS
'SUGARTOWN'
'DISHING'
Video Screening
River-to-River Festival
Elevated Acre "On the Town"
August 5, 2008, 8 PM
55, Water Street, Lower Manhattanhttp://www.rivertorivernyc.com
7.24.08
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NISI JACOBS
'YOSHIKO'
Video Screening
LE PETIT VERSAILLE
July 24, 2008, 8:30 PM
346 East Houston Street
http://www.urban75.org
7.18.08
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
East Coast Aliens
Friday, July 18, 9 PM
East Coast Aliens
http://www.eastcoastaliens.com/SALON
7.08
DRAW
'NEIGHBORS'
5.1 Installation
Michael J. Schumacher, sound
Nisi Jacobs, video
KUEIP 2008
Konkuk University Exhibition
Programmed by Jung Hee Choi
Korea Arts Festival
http://kueip.com/
7.6.08
NISI JACOBS
'YOSHIKO'
Video Screening
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
Les Rencontres Internationales
Paris, Madrid, Berlin
Berlin > 1-6 juillet 2008
Haus der Kulturen der Welt
http://art-action.org
4.1.08
NISI JACOBS
WHITE CATS
w/ Joseph Arthur
Tara Angell, music
Nisi Jacobs, video
The Living Room
Tuesday, April 1, 10:00 PM
The Living Room, 154 Ludlow Street btw. Standton & Rivington
http://www.livingroomny.com
3.13.08
NISI JACOBS
AEROPLANE PAGEANT
w/ Nightmare of You
Heavy Rescue
The Crazy Donkey
Thursday, March 13, 8:00 PM  /  15adv/17door
The Crazy Donkey, 1058 Route 110
www.thecrazydonkey.com
3.12.08
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, audio
Tim Keiper, percussion
Nisi Jacobs, video
The Stone
Wednesday, March 12
8:00 PM  /  10door
The Stone, Avenue C and 2nd Streetwww.thestonenyc.com/calendar/
11.20.07
DRAW
Michael J. Schumacher, audio
Nisi Jacobs, video
FFMUP Series
Terrace, Princeton, NJ
part of the FFMUP series
www.ffmup.org