2004 Mocean at the First Presbyterian Church’s Alexander Chapel

Overview

The first Mocean installation was in 2004, at the First Presbyterian Church's Alexander Chapel. The Alexander Chapel, inside an 1893 McKim, Meade, and White structure, was designed in 1937. A new chapel organ was installed in 2003, featuring a MIDI interface. The participant entered the small chapel, approached the tank of water, and played with it. The motion of the user’s hand created ripples in the water, which were projected onto the golden quatrefoils of the ceiling. The ripples were captured with a small camera and translated into MIDI data using Cycling ‘74’s Jitter program. We sent the MIDI data to the pipe organ, the motion of the water changing the algorithmic music and the registration (harmonic content) of the organ, accompanied by the splish-splash of the participant’s hand and the gentle reflections of the water against the ceiling.