Brian O'Reilly

"When forms collapse, the resulting remains expose layered bits containing infinite possibilities. The inner workings of these fragments make up the foundation of Brian O'Reilly's videos, not unlike microsonic music composition, to which O'Reilly's oeuvre has a great affinity. This type of sound making employs sonic events shorter than musical notes creating a music of vestiges. In these works intervals of visual information are isolated and reworked in order to compose the visualizations for a particular piece. Assemblage art also infiltrates itself a great deal into the videos, albeit in an opposite direction. While assemblage utilizes found scraps to create a new object, these videos degrade original footage in order to unearth the weathered layers in these moving images. Both approaches employ as source material peripheries that would otherwise go unnoticed. By placing a "magnifying glass" onto these materials, a whole visual environment is constructed. This augmented space is precisely what O'Reilly's makes tangible." - Marcella Faustini from "An Aesthetic of Collapse: Brian O'Reilly's Cinema of Fragmentized Failure"
"In trying to trace the tangled threads which make up the methods of how I approach constructing a particular work. I am drawn frequently to a continuation on a conceptual line of thought first developed by Paul Klee as "Andacht zum Kleinen" (a devotion to small things). From the study of the miniscule, the slightest detail, the smallest manifestation of form within the every day landscape/soundscape, it is possible to understand (in Klee's words) the "magnitude of natural order". Thus, from a study of minutiae and its interrelationships, one can deduce the unseen outlines of complex forms..." - o'Reilly
Brian O'Reilly is the creator of various works for moving images, electronic/noise music, mixed media collage, installation, and is a contrabassist, focusing on the integration of electronic treatments and extended playing techniques.
He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a scholarship for sculpture, following his studies in Chicago he relocated to Paris to study the composition methods & techniques of the composer and architect Iannis Xenakis. During this time he worked extensively with Xenakis' electronic music system utilizing graphic sonic synthesis the UPIC. After a time of research at Les Ateliers UPIC, he received an appointment as the studio's Musical Assistant, during which he worked with Luc Ferrari on his audio and video installation "Cycle Des Souvenirs", and Eliane Radigue on her electroacoustic work "L'Ile Re-sonante".
Spectral Strands (Saariaho: Vent nocturne) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.
"Spectral Strands (Saariaho: Vent nocturne)" is a part of a collection of works commissioned from the the ZKM's (Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe, Germany) Institut für Musik & Akustik and the Institut für Bildmedien.
"Spectral Strands" is a collaboration between Garth Knox performing viola (at times with electronic treatments) and myself manipulating real time visualizations.
The moving images use source materials based on extreme close up footage i shot of Garth performing on the viola, then processed using Tom Demeyer's ImX software, with further editing and transformations using FCP to create the fixed form presented here.
The music "Vent nocturne" for viola and electronics was composed by Kaija Saariaho for the project and is dedicated to Garth. Presented here is the first half of the work.
This work along with works by Scelsi, Sciarrino, Edwards and Grisey are to be released as a DVD titled "Spectral Strands: for Viola and Visuals" by Wergo's ZKM Edition

Point Line Cloud (selections) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.
"Beneath the level of the note lies the realm of sound particles. Each particle is a pinpoint of sound. Recent advances let us probe and manipulate this microacoustical world. Sound particles dissolve the rigid bricks of musical composition-the notes and their intervals-into more fluid and supple materials. The sensations of point, pulse (series of points), line (tone), and surface (texture) emerge as the density of particles increases. Sparse emissions produce rhythmic figures. By lining up the particles in rapid succession, one can induce an illusion of tone continuity or pitch. As the particles meander, they flow into liquid-like streams and rivulets. Dense agglomerations of particles form clouds of sound whose shapes evolve over time." -Curtis Roads
POINT LINE CLOUD is a collection of audio and video collaborations between Curtis Roads and myself, it has been a ever shifting project over the years which constantly continues to evolve. The first performance of the materials that grew into the project was in 2001 at a concert with Autechre and Russell Haswell in Los Angeles. Since then it has been performed in many diverse venus around the world.
The three excerpts presented are:
Fluxon
This work contains in part visual source materials provided by Matthew Marsden that were further layered and processed using various digital softwares.
Volt air pt. 3
The source material was generated using the analog video synthesizer the Sandin Image Processor located at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Thank you to Brett Williams and Edward Rankus who at the time helped me dig deeper into the IP.
Half life pt. 1 Sonal atoms
Was created using only a few seconds of footage that was then edited, layered, processed and re-processed to create the basis for the work. Curtis' book MICROSOUND had a profound influence on the conception of how to edit and construct this work, at times editing the video to the sound on a frame by frame level.

octal_hatch (excerpts) from Brian O'Reilly on Vimeo.
octal_hatch (2003) is a series of works based on materials generated using a live video feedback system. The setup consisted two antiquated video mixers (equipped with various wipes and internal effects), assorted cameras, monitors and a laptop processing and feeding footage through itself and into the system. These source materials were then edited, layered and reprocessed using various softwares and hardware techniques.
The idea first presented itself to me when Matmos asked me to play contrabass on the track "Snails and Lasers for Patricia Highsmith" from the album "The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of a Beast". From them I got the idea of making an abstract work that had conceptual links to someone who had deeply influenced my life and work. In my case I decided to do an "abstract portrait" of the composer and architect Iannis Xenakis.
The sonic materials used in the works have direct links to Xenakis' electronic music in that they mainly use his UPIC System and an implementation of GenDy written by Alberto de Campo in the software programming language supercollider.
The UPIC sounds were generated years before, performed live to DAT tape while I was working in France as music assistant at Les Ateliers UPIC. The GenDy code uses a stochastic algorithm that Xenakis invented and called "dynamic stochastic synthesis." Also to note, currently the hardware dependent UPIC is replaced in my studio setup by the UPIX, a software only version created at CEMAMu just before they were sadly shut down.
The UPIC (an acronym of Unité Polyagogique Informatique du CEMAMu) is a drawing tablet linked to a computer, which has a vector display. The user draws waveforms and volume envelopes on the tablet, which are rendered by the computer. Once the waveforms have been stored, the user can compose with them by drawing "compositions" on the tablet, with the X-axis representing cumulative duration, and the Y-axis representing pitch. The compositions can be stretched in duration from a few seconds to an hour. They can also be transposed, reversed, inverted, and subjected to a number of algorithmic transformations. The system allows for real time performance by moving the stylus across the tablet.
The title comes from the name of one of the UPIC pages "performed" in the work, a sort of cross hatched image which to me at the time resembled an eye.
Portions of the work premiered in Bristol England as a part of the Sonic Arts Network "Connectors" event, and the parts of the version posted here was first screened at The Ninth Annual Activating The Medium Festival in San Francisco, CA.