Function Time

The function call stack will be recorded and charted for one millisecond for twelve popular open source software systems. These charts will be converted into musical notes creating a score. The millisecond will be expanded to a 15 second duration and looped, getting shorter and shorter each play, until finally the individual notes meld into one steady hum. Algorithmic or program time will be auralized on a human scale, and then the viewer will gradually be drawn in to the speed at which computational objects actually function.

Installation:
Every hour on the hour, as well as at 15 minute intervals, a different Echo Mesh node will play one of the twelve scores. The piece is intended to evoke the periodicity of clock tower bells, juxtaposing “old” modes of industrial time with the “new” modes of computational media.

Bio:
Rory Solomon is an artist and software developer. He is Tech Lead for the Urban Research Tool: a mapping platform for geo-spatial research at the New School. He has collaborated on projects featured in the Whitney Biennial and the National Art Museum of China. He currently teaches programming at Parsons.

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