animation > Woven

Woven

Hand drawn animation Marker on Paper

5 min 31 sec

2023

Spectralina is the collaborative project of Selina Trepp and Dan Bitney. Spectralina creates performances and animated films in which projections and sounds come together as visual music.

This site specific audio visual work was made for Art on the Mart, a permanent projection onto the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago, as part of the celebration of the Chicago year of music. The piece is called Woven. It is drawn by hand, frame by frame, marker on paper, responding to the music.
For Woven we envisioned the Merchandise Mart façade serving as not just our projection surface but also as our weaving loom—our music and animation are the threads that create the fabric in this loom.
Writing music is much like weaving—sounds are woven together to create a composition. This music weaves together sounds and genres from Chicago’s rich musical history in homage to the beauty and creativity cultivated here.
The animation is based on woven patterns we found in the culturally diverse neighborhoods of Chicago. These patterns weave, transform, and reconstitute themselves in response to the music, morphing from one pattern into the next.

This music was made by Dan Bitney with the wonderful musicians collaborating on this track.
Jaimie Branch
John Herndon
Jeff Parker
Dustin Laurenzi
Norman Long