Nio, like Jim Andrews's earlier visual poetry, explores the idea that poetic experience is not the exclusive territory of words and lines. The work casts the interactor in the position of composer, mixing and sequencing doo-wop voice audio samples and corresponding lettristic animations that swirl about in three dimensions. Without providing any form of explicit representation, the piece creates a playful environment for evocative synesthesia.
Author description: The main part of the Nio project is an interactive audio piece done in Shockwave. It consists of two "verses." In verse 1, the wreader layers audio and lettristic animations. In verse 2, the wreader both layers and sequences them. Verse 2 is a little sequencer. The Nio project has other parts such as the source code (requires Macromedia Director 8+); the (Shockwave) Song Shapes, which are audioless and use the same animations as in Nio; an essay on the poetics of interactive audio for the web; an essay on audio programming in Director, which is now part of the Macromedia documentation; still visual poetry drawn from onion skins of Nio animations; and an interview by Randy Adams with me about Nio.
Instructions: To hear the sound, turn on the computer's speakers or plug in headphones. Click sound icons to start and stop sounds and visual poems. Additional help is available within Nio by clicking on the question mark icon.
Previous publication: Nio is a commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. for its Turbulence web site with funds from the National Endowment for the Arts. Nio was published in 2001 on http://turbulence.org and http://vispo.com.
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.