The Butterflies in my Brain
Live sound–image performance
Overhead projector, drawing materials, four microphones, custom software, amplified sound
Duration variable
A live sound–image performance in which drawing, projection, machine noise, and amplified drawing sounds are composed through one physical performance system.
The Butterflies in My Brain uses an overhead projector as both image-making device and sound source. Drawing takes place directly on and around the projector, while microphones capture sounds from within and around the machine. These sounds are amplified, processed, and altered through live action.
The work is built from simple materials: light, paper, acetate, graphite, projection, drawing, sound, and the movement of the hand. Drawing is not treated only as a way to make an image. It becomes a way to produce contact, pressure, rhythm, interruption, and both visual and sonic change.
This work is an important precursor to Hamilton’s later practice-based PhD research, Composing with Site: Re-authoring Sound-Image Across Physical and Digital Environments. In The Butterflies in My Brain, sound and image are held together through a shared physical source: the projector, the drawing surface, and the live actions performed on it. Later works would test what happens when that direct material link is loosened, removed, or re-authored across different sites.
Project Description
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In The Butterflies in My Brain, the overhead projector is not used as a neutral presentation tool. It becomes a live instrument: a surface, light source, machine, sound object, and projection device.
Marks, movements, and small material actions are made visible through projection and audible through amplification. The sound does not sit beside the image as accompaniment. It is produced through the same physical situation as the image: the contact between hand, material, projector, microphone, and processing system.
A live Max/MSP system connects the captured sounds to the performance, allowing the audio to shift as drawing actions change. Selection, manipulation, density, and duration are shaped through the act of drawing. The result is a direct sound–image relation in which what is seen and what is heard remain tied to the same live process.
Drawing / Sound / Performance
The work continues Hamilton’s long-standing interest in drawing as an action rather than only a finished image. Here, drawing produces pressure, friction, rhythm, hesitation, and response. These qualities are not hidden behind the image; they become part of what the work is made from.
The amplified sound brings attention to what is usually incidental: the hum of the projector, the scrape of drawing materials, the handling of acetate, and the small noises produced by contact with the machine. These sounds are not added afterwards. They are produced live and become part of the composition as the image is made.
The Butterflies in My Brain sits between live performance, sound sculpture, drawing, and projection. It creates a temporary system in which hand, material, machine, image, and sound act on one another in real time.