The 22 nd International Conference on Auditory Display (ICAD-2016) July 2-8, 2016, Canberra, Australia Flight Variant Teresa Connors, Andrew Denton The University of Waikato, Auckland University of Technology New Zealand tmconnor@waikato.ac.nz andrew.denton@aut.ac.nz “Thus the art in the time of hyperobjects explores the un- canniness of beings, the uniqueness of beings, the irony and interrelationships between beings, and the ironic secondar- iness of the intermeshing between beings.” [1] Artistic Work Submission Flight Variant is one of a series of ongoing audiovisual installation projects by Teresa Connors and Andrew Den- ton, which respond to the Anthropogenic climate and geological change. The work emerges from data collec- tion processes that took place in Southern California in 2014 and 2015. These include high-speed and HD video jet streams recordings (see figure 1, 2) and audio record- ings from and around the Los Angeles airports. The re- sulting installation is a generative work that is driven by an algorithm based on 2015 aviation statistical data. Ad- ditional components include flight data streamed from the Internet, sampled vocal clips from YouTube, TV, and the Radio, real-time convolution of acoustic instrument improvisation with field recordings. Constructed in Max 7 (see figure 3), this installation layers a network of visual and aural content that produces an ever-evolving work. The core visual elements are a series of strangely articulated filmed jet streams that cut lines across a rich blue Californian sky. 30 years ago Bill McKibben imagined a world where the sounds of chainsaws would inhabit even the most isolat- ed and inaccessible forests. Now we can look around and out, up and down, and in every micro and macro space on the planet, and silence and human absence has all but disappeared. [2] Flight Variant is a series of core samples - a database of human presence and movement across the sky, land, and airwaves. Similar to other ecologically-grounded creative practices, this installation explores the situated relation- ship of environment, material agency and creative process and as means to tease out an emerge co-creative methodology. Thematic Statement Flight Variant seeks to evoke a space of contemplation, uneasiness, and melancholy by engaging with the strati- fied signs of our collective impressions and impacts on our environment. Web Links Link to Flight Variant and other works: www.divatproductions.com/ICAD2016.html Link to Andrew Denton’s CV: https://aut.academia.edu/ADenton Link to Teresa Connors’s CV and web page: https://waikato.academia.edu/TeresaConnors www.divatproductions.com Figure 1 Flight Variant—installation image. Photo Andrew Denton