Originally approached by contemporary guitarist Julian Valdi-Vieso, Joshua Turbines is a commissioined sound toy for touch screen intended to be played as an instrument while projecting visualizations on a large-format screen. Joshua Turbines is a modular installation piece for touch compatible device and projector.
Make a digital sound toy inspired by the California desert.
When Julian Valdi-Vieso commissioned this work, it was to fulfill a very specific need - he wanted a digital instrument that he could hold in the palm of his hand, existing outside of the purview of his usual work, which was classical guitar with extended techniques. At the time, we had both been exploring the California desert - myself in the Salton Sea and surrounding area, and Julian in the Joshua Tree National Park. One of the things that was common to both of our experiences was the presence of a truly massive number of windmills along the highways that we would take to get to our destinations. Often, we would comment to each other on the beauty of the windmills, and what a shame it was that they were silent, when they clearly (at least according to us) were made to sing. In an age where such things are regarded largely as eyesores, we chose to see them as beautiful. That is how Joshua Turbines came to be. 3D modeling (turbines, environment) was done in Autodesk Maya, sound design created using the Teenage Engineering OP-1 and Apple Logic, and all components were brought together and assembled in Unity.
Joshua Turbines continues to make windmills sing. It has been performed as a musical instrument in a number of performances, featured at the CalArts Digital Arts Expo (2015) and the UCLA Game Art Festival (2012). It is currently available for Mac or PC upon request.