Sound Economy is Stanley Ruiz’s “audio-visual approach to economics.” He used the Philippines’ Gross Domestic Product (GDP per capita) as his source to create sounds and manipulate video. GDP values were converted to MIDI data using a gesture-based sensor interface (the data is being sent as he moves his hand). Converted MIDI values were then processed in a custom program written in Max/MSP. He used MIDIsense as sensor interface. The output is an algorithmically composed music, as well as manipulated video (in this instance the video’s frame rate and contrast were manipulated). Sound Economy was the first in the series to be shown in public at the 4th Asia-Europe Art Camp in Helsinki, Finland (June 2006).

Ruiz is planning to create more using GDP data from other countries. When played side by side - the disparity in sounds and images will be heard and seen. Countries with higher GDP will generally have higher notes or pitches, while countries will low GDP will sound bassy with low frequencies. Brighter video and faster frame rate will also be exhibited by more affluent countries, while the reverse is true for less affluent nations.

Stanley Ruiz is a media artist, industrial designer, and part-time musician working at the intersection of art, design, media,and technology. His recent works deal mainly with the manipulation of sounds using a participatory approach through human and object interaction. He holds a BFA degree in Industrial Design from the University of the Philippines and a Graduate Diploma in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College, the City University of New York.

Other links:

Sound Economy on youtube
Sound Economy powerpoint presentation
Sound Economy PDF
Algorithmic Composition on wikipedia