Scott McLaughlin - Composer

Reciprocal Structures: Glass Light Sound

This is a project between Scott McLaughlin (composer), Shelley James (glass artist), where the complex structures of glass and sound are revealed, magnified, and interlaced in performance. Initial development was with cellist Seth Woods, and more recently with bassist Dominic Lash. By shining focussed light through complex glass structures, we reveal the grain and cording of the glass, amplified by light refraction, producing beautiful caustics on both surrounding walls and on sandblasted glass 'scores'. The glass rotates slowly to allow a dynamic shifting of patterns, which is then interpreted by the performer as a quasi-graphic score. Seth's performance refracts the cello string by splitting the spectrum of the sound, revealing its own inner partials and structures as a reflection of the visual.

The project development has been funded by Ignite (University of Leeds) in 2014, and The National Academic and Creatives Exchange in 2015. Please see here for the project blog and more up to date images/video.