FAQ.

1.What is your thesis Elevator Pitch?
An analogue reinterpretation of string theory in the vein of Wendy Carlos' famous reworkings of Bach masterpieces.
2.What are your personas?

-Phillipe:A 32-year-old Web-designer from New York, he is an analogue synthesis enthusiast that also enjoys the early conceptual artworks of Vito Acconci and Nam June Paik. Although he doesn't find science particularly interesting, he goes to the gallery in the interest of seeing somebody else espouse their love of the synthesizer through multimedia art. As such, he finds the kitschy trappings, sounds and setup of the exhibit fascinating(in addition to its juxtaposition with the idea of string theory), but isn't particularly curious about why string theory is juxtaposed with said 70s analogue kitsch. Furthermore, as a graphic designer, his interest is first and foremost invested in the aesthetics and composition of the piece itself.

-Sylvia:A 25-year-old graduate student from MIT studying to become a quantum physicist. Tipped off to the exhibit by her friends at the Media Lab, she presents the opposite case of Phillipe's: a scientist more interested in its scientific content than its synthesis content. Although she finds the allusions to 70s science programs interesting and the idea of speech synthesizers superimposed over the voices of well-known physicists hilarious, she is nonplussed by the synthesizer language conversion of the theory treatise itself. She'd much rather listen to some Irish Traditional Music.

-Jean-Michel:A 59-year-old synthesizer musician from France known the world over. He was told about "Switched-on Everything" through his American manager during a visit to New York. He replies with a short, punctuated "Ha!" at the idea of it, and then plainly says that he hates the idea. He's lived through it already, and he'd much rather return to his green laser instruments and laptops.

3.What is your production schedule?
Because I really don't work very well with a very specific schedule, I plan to have three phases:
1.Spring 2007-mid-Summer 2007: Research and Conceptual Refinement
At this point, I will not only be refining the idea itself but also researching String Theory and the history of analog synthesis. I will be developing the synthesizer language itself based upon the aural aesthetics of 1970s electronic music while looking into methods of programming said converter(At the moment, I've settled on Processing and its proMIDI library). I'll most likely be beginning development of the program itself. I will also be following the organisational methods put forth by the Prototyping class.
2.Mid-Summer 2007-Fall 2007: Development
By Mid-summer, I plan to go full-speed in terms of creating the project itself. I will be compiling and editing interview footage, dubbing the interviewees with synthesized voices, finishing the conversion program and gathering materials for the final presentation.
3.Fall 2007-Spring 2008:Administration
By the end of Fall 2007, I plan on fine-tuning the developed project while also negotiating with the school regarding the use of television sets, speakers and space. I will also be preparing final explanatory documents.

4.What's the Point?
My "point" is two-fold:
1.In juxtaposing the ideas and aesthetics of analog electronics with the ideas of String Theory(particularly the ideas behind the First and Second Superstring Revolutions, in which String Theory was being interpreted as a possible "theory of everything"), I plan on juxtaposing two contrasting yet equally nebulous views of the future: The "certain", utopian future of modernism versus the "uncertain", dystopian future of postmodernism.

2.I would like to explore the sonic possibilities of language. How can I make a language as succinct as Morse code yet with a larger sonic vocabulary? How would a composition sound if there was verbal meaning controlling every single waveform in place of an arbitrary note?

5.First-Stage Prototype
My first stage prototype is basically going to be a sentence converted into my tentative analog synth language manually-constructed using Pro-Tools. I also plan on beginning to program MIDI using Processing.