Preempting Descent

(2009)

Pre-Empting Descent is a generative Audio Visual Installation by Niall Quinn. The piece is dictated by automated drops of liquid, which run as a central theme throughout the piece both sonically and visually. As the drops descend to their inevitable destination, the sound of a voice can be heard decreasing in pitch. The drop refers to itself and the sound it will make upon its impact with the bucket, suggesting that the fluid contained the speech itself. Multiple elements and factors are introduced as an attempt to control the behaviour of the fluid, yet the unpredictable nature of the drop soon relinquishes any notion of control as the chaotic properties of fluid mechanics are demonstrated first hand, resulting in a durational performance by the drops themselves. As the drops descend at different intervals, chance dialogues of abstract sound are created, whereby manipulated sentences are made audible, leaving a visual trace of sonic residue.