Shawn Decker - Artistic Statement

Initially educated as a composer of both instrumental and computer-generated music, my work has gradually evolved from primarily performance and tape-based music composition to installations intended for galleries or other spaces, as well as to interactive performance works which make use of a variety of electronic media. My current work, which involves a variety of physical and electronic media, is positioned at the intersection of music composition, the visual arts, and performance.

In my most recent work, I have become increasingly interested in the processes found in nature and in other large and complex systems, and the potential of computer programs to model or simulate such systems within time-based artworks. I have also been quite interested in creating media installations which are physical and tactile in nature, which are grounded in objects and in the creation of environments which are integrated within the gallery spaces they are presented in, and which create immersive situations which echo those found in the real world.

Within my most recent interactive installations and performances, patterns of behavior are fixed and defined only by the algorithmic process specified within the computer program embedded within a micro-controller which is typically part of each work. These algorithmic processes are designed to simulate the manner of operation of physical and natural systems. This ongoing investigation of computer-mediated processes - both as a means of producing work, and more recently as the form of the work itself - has been central to my interest in the use of computers for creative purposes.

I have also recently become increasing dissatisfied with the electronic production of sound via conventional speakers (stereophony) and have been investigating the use of mechanical and other “direct” sound production techniques that may be controlled by a computer program,. These techniques include the use of small motors to strike metal objects, piano wires, etc. and are often kinetic in nature. Due to the physical nature of these works the distinctions between sonic, visual, and spatial elements begin to blur. Another related approach I am taking is the investigation of the use of speakers in a more “raw” mode than usually used in stereophy – as single sound sources that may be summed together in sufficient quantities to form spatially immersive environments.

The use of simple mechanical devices such as surplus motors, inexpensive piezoelectric speakers, etc. also certainly has a modestly subversive anti-high-tech element to it that pervades my entire aesthetic. Rather than being interested in creating complex “high tech” systems (for instance, complex robotic systems) I instead focus on the complexity of interactions between many simple, even common, machines. In other words, I am interested in building robotic systems in an environmental /sociological manner.

Recent exhibitions include Klosterstrasse/Berlin sponsored by the city of Berlin, ISEA2002 in Nagoya, Japan, CADE 2001 in Glasgow, Scotland, ISEA2000 in Paris, and the MAXIS festival in Sheffield, UK, the Brussels 2000 and Helsinki 2000 cultural capital exhibitions, Malmö, Sweden, the exhibition at Art Chicago, 2001, the Block Museum of Art at Northwestern University, and the Slusser Gallery in Ann Arbor Michigan.