Velvet-Transcode - Néstor Lizalde

Audiovisual Device
Duration: Real-time generation
Dimensions: 170 x 170 x 170 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Technique: Electronic design, software design, audiovisual
Materials: Wood, metal, velvet, electronic components
Audio samples: Kim Fasticks
Object of study: The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
—
2010

Velvet Transcode is an electronic art installation that performs a “digital artistic study” of the legendary album The Velvet Underground & Nico. The album has been deconstructed and reassembled as a digital form composed of audio fragments, projections, and a video-hologram. Through interaction with a push-button interface, users can recombine over 1,000 audio and video files, reshaping the work into an abstract, variable form that echoes the original object of study. The piece explores the representational possibilities offered by so-called “New Media.”

Object of study “The Velvet Underground & Nico” (1967)

The album, produced by Andy Warhol in 1967, is an icon of 1960s counterculture. On its cover, next to the sticker concealing a phallic shape, appears the phrase “Peel slowly and see”—an invitation to explore the object interactively. This participatory gesture is central to the present project.

Just as in a painting studio the artist captures the subject through their gaze before rendering it onto canvas through stroke, color, and material, in Velvet Transcode the object is captured digitally and reconstituted through electronic media, making use of the intrinsic possibilities of this new form: programming, variability, interactivity, spatial narration, and multiple timelines.

The album is digitally broken down into audio and video fragments, which the machine recombines via user interaction with the interface, offering a continuously shifting audiovisual representation of the original.

Interface device

The interface device allows audiovisuals to be modified via interaction with 49 dual-signal push buttons: pressing upward alters the video at that spatial position; pressing downward activates or deactivates an audio fragment, which is transformed into light within the button itself. Inside the device are a sound system, two Apple computers, and various electronic components connecting the buttons to the system. The computers have been modified with solid-state drives (SSD) to allow near-instant access to multiple files simultaneously.

The image device displays multiple video tracks that play and shift in fragments, presenting the album as a variable object. Each video timeline is independent, forming a mosaic of mutable forms that the user can manipulate through the interface. Using a system of mirrors, the visual component creates a hologram-like display, where the image appears to float behind the glass, reflecting into successive layers of depth until fading away. This system was developed specifically for this project, leaving room for future applications.

The installation

The installation is self-contained and includes all necessary components for operation. It only requires a power outlet in the exhibition space. The work includes its own lighting system: a low-power red lamp and a projector mounted on a tripod equipped with an adjustable mirror to aim the light at the interface buttons.