navigator is an exercise in awareness, adaptability, and creativity. The astronomical theme was inspired by my lifelong curiosity of space and the beyond. With Mars colonization and space travel in general being a relevant topic, I figured that the theme would be relatable to most people. The visual theme is meant to be an aid for the performers' ability to generate musical material, in addition to serving as a template in inspiring the development of the animations used in the piece.
Regardless of the examples I have provided of the animations a performer can expect to see during a performance, navigator is a reaction piece. My intentions for the animations may wildly differ from the interpretation of the performer, and the variation is both welcomed and encouraged. Some of the animations are structured deliberately to suggest a common theme that most performers will adopt in their improvisation. However, there are animations that are designed to be ambivalent and unique to the performer.
Each of the animations in the piece are combinations of five controlled elements: shape, size, motion, color, and visibility. By integrating each of these characteristics into different algorithms, I was able to create animations that represent eight bodies that exist in space.