The artwork’s 10 screens each represent an instrument of the orchestra – violin, cello, oboe, trumpet, bass, and so on. A cluster of 10 Macintosh g5 computers creates the imagery for each of these screens on the fly, employing a variety of methods for two kinds of representation:
- Diagrams of its evolving conception and manipulation of the musical score (illustrated in phases 1–3 below).
- Depictions of the musicians interpreting the score (phase 4 below). While this imagery derives from video of the musicians’ performances, it abstracts it to point-and-line relationships and resolution-independent textures.
The Enlightenment imagery continually varies not only by reflecting its changing grasp of the music, but also by trying out new ways to deploy the basic elements of its own visual vocabulary.
Since each screen is ultra-high-resolution (1600 x 2560 pixels), the viewer can approach the display very closely to examine the fine detail of the imagery – more the way one examines paper than the usual digital displays. Stepping back, the viewer can take in a range of screens, thus perceiving the emergent coordination between them.
1. Weaving
Enlightenment begins by rough trial and error. For each instrumental part, it discards any notes and rules out any intervals not present in the coda. This gives it a rudimentary sense of “tonal center,” so that the tentative phrases it eventually starts playing are in the correct key.
The process depicts itself by drawing a line for every individual note it auditions. It then weaves these lines together as it tries out possible combinations.
Occasionally the artwork shuttles through a take of the musician performing the part until it finds a matching note.
2. Finding themes
The artwork puts two or more notes in a trial sequence, which it submits to a jury of virtual agents for evaluation. One agent might detect a match with the beginning of the coda’s first theme, while another might suggest transposing a note three tones down to match the theme’s end. The artwork then weighs these judgments before creating the next trial sequence. This process repeats until all 5 themes of the coda are found.
Enlightenment displays these procedures in two bars of notation. The lower bar shows the re-editing of a sequence as notes are added, deleted, transposed, contracted or extended; accompanying notations indicate why a given operation was made. The upper bar then tracks the audio playback of the resulting new sequence. When a correct note or phrase is found, the artwork rewards itself with a glimpse of the musician performing it.
3. Solving the fugue
For the first time, each screen starts coordinating with the neighboring screens to figure out how to fit the themes together in Mozart’s tightly constructed fugue.
The instrumental parts represented by each screen keep rearranging themselves in ever-more-accurate approximations on a repeating loop. As the placement of a theme is determined, it is inscribed into a vertical timeline on the left, and the next theme is sought.
This loop grows from a short 10 measures to reach the full 32 measures of the final coda.
4. Playing the solution
Enlightenment concludes by performing the successfully reconstructed coda, framing it with Mozart’s introduction and finale.
The musicians – seen fleetingly in previous sections – are now fully present on screen. Visually, their performances are still live, for the artwork keeps adjusting its semi-abstract figuration styles as it renders them to the screen.