The window show: here and back again

Here and Back Again by Dennis H. Miller
Exhibition Dates: Saturday, May 29, 2021 - extended through Thursday, July 8, 2021

While the physical Boston Cyberarts Gallery interior remains closed due to COVID-19, we are organizing a series of art events and exhibitions to be seen from outside the gallery. "The Window Show" is an ever changing art exhibition in the Boston Cyberarts Gallery windows. Please visit here for special events and updates.

Boston Cyberarts is proud to present Here and Back Again by Dennis H. Miller on view in the windows of Boston Cyberarts Gallery 24-hours a day, 7-days a week. Here and Back Again is a solo retrospective of the fourteen main audiovisual works that Miller composed from 1998-2018 while teaching at and with support from Northeastern University, Boston. As seen through the gallery windows, the work is presented silently, accentuating its bold and mesmerizing graphic display.

In each work, Miller attempts to create a unique relationship between sound and picture while exploring different processes of image and audio synthesis. For example, his piece, Point, Line, Plane – 3 Short Works after Kandinsky incorporates advanced particle systems, such as those used for Hollywood special effects; while R.G.B.: 3 Chromatic Studies, uses fluid-dynamics systems more often employed for engineering and scientific purposes.

Miller has also explored a wide variety of sound synthesis and processing techniques, including sound file convolution, physical modeling, and frequency modulation (FM) synthesis. Using both off-the-shelf software and custom routines he developed, Miller’s music serves as an equal partner to the images, with the two media often working in tight synchronization, and at other times, operating entirely independent of one another.

Miller’s computer-generated, graphical images, which are also featured in the show, are highly colorful, abstract renderings. They were created using several software applications that allow the artist to balance total control with complete chance. Often fanciful, at times moody or dramatic, these images are a major part of Miller’s creative output over the past ten years. In addition to being presented in previous public shows and used for magazine covers, they have appeared in two main texts: Sonic Graphics: Seeing Sound (Woolman, Rizzoli Press, 2000), and Art of the Digital Era (Wands, Thames and Hudson, 2007).

Though this solo exhibition highlights the aesthetics of Miller's visual style, his works with audio can also be heard at www.dennishmiller.com

DENNIS H. MILLER’s Bio:

Dennis H. Miller received his Doctorate in Music Composition from Columbia University in 1981. From 1981 to 2018, he was on the Music faculty of Northeastern University in Boston. His mixed-media compositions combine original music and computer-generated animation and illustrate principles drawn from music composition applied to the visual realm.

Miller was the founder and principal curator of the Visual Music Marathon, which screened over 200 fine-art animations at 24-hour festivals in Boston and New York (2007 and 2009). His audiovisual compositions have been presented in over 30 countries in venues as large as soccer stadiums as well as in more intimate galleries, festivals and other exhibits.

Miller currently lives with his wife in farm-country (west-central) New Jersey, where his main activities include astro photography, super-macro photography, learning to play the kora (a West African harp) and caring (part-time) for his five grandchildren.

documentation photos below by Yanka Petri