technology and music.
“It’s 
really 
hard 
to 
say, 
because every time I get exposed 
to something new in PAT, I 
gravitate towards it,” Cox said. 
“Every day, what I see myself 
doing in the future is different. 
It’s really hard to decide what 
you want to do, because every 
day 
music 
technology 
and 
performance arts technology is 
growing and its exponential. It’s 
not going to stop.”
This year’s student showcase 
will be a single example of 
the expansive work that PAT 
students are doing, which could 
be viewed as the most recent 
culmination of several years of 
art and technology developing 
alongside 
one 
another. 
According 
to 
Department 
Chair Michael Gurevich, these 
developments can be boiled 
down to two major factors, the 
first being an immense growth 
in computing power.
“When I was starting out, you 
could barely kind of process and 
manipulate sound on a computer 
live, in real time,” Gurevich said. 
“Now, your watch or your phone 

can do that. So just the sheer 
computing power has created 
the possibility that anyone’s 
phone, computer (and) lots of 
mobile computing devices are 
basically 
powerful 
recording 
studios 
of 
powerful 
simple 
processes. So that means that 
anyone can do it, and anyone has 
the access to really sophisticated 
tools.”
Gurevich has been active in 
the field of performance arts 
technology for about 20 years. 
Another factor that has led to 
an increase in innovation in this 
field, he said, is the Internet.
“The second thing is the 
possibility 
that 
using 
the 
internet 
as 
a 
medium 
for 
music-making 
has 
made 
so 
the possibility of now not just 
recording, producing one’s own 
music, but distributing it online,” 
Gurevich said. “But then also the 
possibility of collaborating with 
people in distant locations who 
you’ve never met — and we can 
do that live now, too. So one of 
our interests in our department 
at Michigan is what we call 
telematics, so the possibility 
of playing live with people in 
distant locations.”
The PAT program at the 
University 
specifically 
has 
risen to meet the occasion. 
One of the things that makes 
the department here stand out 
is that the program is highly 
undergraduate-focused; 
By 
Gurevich’s estimate, as many as 
98 percent of PAT students are 
undergraduates.
“Music technology, which is 
really what our department is 
primarily about, tends to be a 
field that really, in most schools, 
exists primarily at the graduate 
level,” 
Gurevich 
said. 
“And 
that’s because in order to work 
in this field, you need to know 
a lot about music, you need to 
know a lot about technology and 
you need to also have put some 
thought into how those two 
things go together … So we’re 
pretty unique in that respect, 
in that we start out in a really 
challenging field, from day one, 
with undergraduate students.”
The department is also unique 
because of its sheer breadth: 
There 
are 
nine 
full-time 
faculty members, with focuses 
encompassing composition, film 
music, visual media, recording, 
sound engineering and more. 
All of the faculty and their 
classes share a commitment to 
prioritizing creativity through a 
technological lens.
“What we try to do, always, 
is to keep the aesthetic and the 
creative aspects of what we’re 

doing front and center in all of 
our classes … What we try to do 
is not focus on technology for its 

own sake, but instead to try to 
always be asking what are the 
creative consequences and the 
creative or artistic possibilities 
of a particular technique or 
a 
particular 
technology,” 
Gurevich said.
The classes accomplish this 
often through assigning project-
based work, and assignments 
where “as soon as students learn 
something, they’re starting to 
make music with it.” The world 
of performance arts technology 
is rapidly evolving, and judging 
by the pace of the department 
and the wide variety of projects 
being undertaken by its students, 
the University’s PAT program is 
more than prepared to keep up.
“Historically, a lot of new 
technologies 
have 
actually 
emerged 
from 
artistic 
motivations. At the same time, 
artists have always been kind 
of 
voracious 
consumers 
of 
technologies, and as soon as a 
new technology emerges, artists 
are using it to try to push art 
forward. And I think that exists 
in music, it exists in visual art, 
in architecture, in almost any 
creative field,” Gurevich said. 
“So I think they’ve always been 
intertwined, and that’ll probably 
always be the case.”

2B —Thursday, March 22, 2018
b-side
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

Performance Arts Technology and 
the limitless potential of tech & art

Moore’s law postulates the 
capabilities of technology double 
every two years and will continue 
to do so indefinitely. The logical 
base of this projection into the 
future has been disputed, but 
regardless its central idea is 
true: Technology does not stop. 
This 
characteristic 
is 
what 
makes the School of Music, 
Theatre & Dance’s Performance 
Arts Technology department 
so interesting, as the challenge 
for students is to chase this 
technological trend through art.
The 
Daily 
spoke 
with 
PAT 
students 
about 
the 
unique characteristics of the 
University’s 
program 
that 
facilitate the marriage between 
art and technology as well as the 
intrinsic innovation within the 
major.
Fee Christoph, an interarts 
performance 
and 
computer 
science major, took both PAT 
201 and PAT 498. In PAT 201, 
Christoph was exposed to the 
processes behind the creation 
of electronic music and some 
history about the genre.
“In the class itself, what I 
really enjoyed was that it wasn’t 
just a focus on learning (PAT) 
skills, but a lot of it was also about 
thinking about electronic music 
and the debates it presents and 
understanding 
philosophically 
what 
it 
means 
for 
these 
different music movements to be 
happening,” Christoph said.
Her PAT 498 experience was 
slightly different: “PAT 201 was 
a studio class where we were 
making more music, and then 
in PAT 498 we were learning all 
about this awesome electronic 
music.”
In 
PAT 
498, 
Christoph 
learned the scope of electronic 
music in a social context, as 
her professor revealed to the 
students many artists working at 
the fringe of technology-driven 
music, especially women and 
minorities innovating in a genre 
historically dominated by white 
men.
“The easiest gate into the 
history of electronic music is 
through a lot of white male 
composers, so it was really 
cool to have a class that was 
like, ‘Hey, there are also a 
ton of women composers and 
minority composers who are 
doing amazing work currently,’” 
Christoph said.
Classes in PAT often examine 
artistic innovation in the context 
of history, a focus which has 
offered its students a broader 
perspective on the possibilities 
that 
technology 
offers. 
In 
another interview, PAT major 
and 
independent 
singer-
songwriter Johanna Baumann 
expanded on the importance of 
this innovation.
“If we’re talking about history, 

going back to, let’s say, the 1900s 
… people were going back to the 
classical stuff, but there were 
also other people who were like, 
‘No, we’re not going to go there. 
We’re going to do new things. 
We’re going to mess around with 
records and later tape, and cut 
stuff up, and make crazy stuff 
that doesn’t sound like music to 
anyone.’ Yet. But now it sounds 
like music to us,” Baumann said.
According 
to 
Baumann, 
this 
pattern 
has 
continued 
throughout many of the major 
technological advancements of 
the last century, all the way up 
to the present day.
“People were making music 
with computers as soon as 
computers started to become 
a 
thing,” 
she 
said. 
“Even 
before that, people were using 
technology in music in creative 
ways … Technology and art 
develop alongside each other 
and enhance each other, because 
technology without art would 
be super boring. And then art 
without technology would be 
more limited.”
As a PAT student, Baumann is 
often seeking out creative ways 
to explore this intersection. She 
interned last year at Moogfest, 
a festival focused on music and 
technology, and just released 
an 
original 
album 
in 
Feb. 
The album, Peach, consists of 
eight tracks, some of which 
were recorded as projects in 
PAT recording classes. Last 
year, Baumann received the 
Hedy 
Lamarr 
Achievement 
Award for Emerging Leaders 
in Entertainment Technology, 
presented 
by 
the 
Digital 
Entertainment Group. As she 
pointed out in our conversation, 
she is only one example: “PAT 
majors are doing big things.”
“If you just know the technical 
basics, you’re not going to be 
able to solve problems as well 
as if you know the creative 
aspects,” Baumann said. “Say 
you’re helping a musician, and 
they have some kind of problem 
… You know the technology of 
what’s going to work, and then 
you also know, aesthetically 
and musically, what’s going to 
sound good. So I think having 
the creative experience really 
enhances being an engineer. 
Because you’re an artist, too, so 
you can help the artist.”
Baumann’s 
newest 
project 
is her senior thesis, a sound 
installation to be put up in the 
Chip Davis Technology Studio 
of the Earl V. Moore Building. 
The 
student 
showcase 
day 
for all senior theses will take 
place April 13. Baumann’s own 
installation, Mood Room, will 
be a curtained-off section of 
the room with stations that 
generate music algorithmically 
using participants’ heart rate, 
temperature and conductance.
“I’m 
trying 
to 
estimate 
people’s moods and play music 
that reflects the mood of the 
room, and then also have colored 
lights and stuff. It’s like a mood 
ring, but a room,” Baumann said.
Ryan 
Cox, 
a 
Daily 
Arts 
Writer and former saxophone 
performance major, explained 

his initial draw to PAT was the 
program’s diversity of interests 
and lack of rigidity that mirrored 
the limitlessness of technology.
“One of the things that I really 
liked about the PAT program 
here especially was how diverse 
is actually was,” Cox said. “They 
didn’t have a specific focus, but 
it was kind of what you made 
of it. I’ve had friends graduate 
here who are now recording 
engineers in L.A. I’ve had 
friends graduate here who are 
now working for digital audio 
workstations and coding for 
them. It’s really as technical or 
as creative as you want it to be.”
For example, Cox mentioned 
that for his PAT application, he 
was asked to rearrange a Bach 
fugue with the objective to “be 
as weird and creative as you can 
be.” He merged the fugue with 
“Back to the Future” themes, 
titling his piece, “Bach to the 
Future,” 
checking 
both 
the 
weird and creative boxes.
Cox 
also 
spoke 
on 
the 
controversy 
regarding 
the 
combination 
of 
music 
and 
technology in general. While 
there is certainly merit to the 
claim 
technology’s 
influence 
in music has the potential 
to 
transform 
warm, 
analog 
sounds into digital, inauthentic 
computations, Cox sided with 
the computers. To him, the 
influx of technology in art 
opens up many more doors than 
it closes, especially when the 
proper balance between natural 
and artificial is struck.
“I’m all for the incorporation 
of 
technology 
in 
music,” 
Cox said. “I think it’s really 
important because of how many 
boundaries it alleviates. It’s 
really cool to have a combination 
of analog sounds and more 
digital, abstract sounds that 
you wouldn’t be able to actually 
create. I think that’s stimulating 
for the listener because they’ll 
hear these things that are man-
made, and then they’ll hear 
these things that aren’t natural.”
Cox posited this stimulating 
blend of electronic and organic 
sounds is what drives pop 
and hip-hop music today, as 
electronically engineered beats 
are often paired with a natural, 
familiar voice.
Sticking with the topic of the 
benefits technology brings to art, 
our conversation shifted toward 
the music industry. Today, with 
the advent of label-less streaming 
services like SoundCloud and 
Bandcamp, amateur musicians 
can independently make the 
leap into the professional world 
with simply a microphone, a 
digital audio workstation and 
a computer. This progression 
not only makes the creation and 
promotion of music infinitely 
easier for the artist, but it also 
exposes so much art to the 
listener that would go either 
uncreated 
or 
undiscovered 
without technology.
When 
asked 
about 
his 
focus 
and 
future 
in 
PAT, 
Cox gave a response in line 
with 
the 
information 
he’d 
already 
provided 
about 
the 
ever-changing 
landscape 
of 

LAURA DZUBAY
Daily Arts Writer

 &
MIKE WATKINS
Daily Arts Writer

DARBY STRIPE / DAILY
Johanna Bauman discusses the PAT program.

From developing car parts to 
making sculptures, 3D printing 
and scanning technologies are 
changing the way we create.
The 
Groundworks 
Fabrication 
Studio, 
located 
in 
the 
Duderstadt 
Center, 
offers students the chance 
to work with 3D printing 
and 
scanning 
technologies. 
Staff at Groundworks assist 
students with the printing of 
their projects, giving advice 
on which specific printer to 
use and helping create the 
file. 
Stephanie 
O’Malley, 
Interactive 
Imaging 
and 
Production 
Specialist 
at 
Groundworks, creates content 
for a variety of grant funded 
projects across the schools 
associated with the University.
“These grants can involve 
3D content for augmented 
or virtual reality platforms, 
animation 
or 
illustrations 
and span very diverse fields, 
from medical or engineering 
to 
art 
and 
architecture,” 
O’Malley wrote in an email 
interview 
with 
The 
Daily. 
“Because Groundworks at the 
Duderstadt Center is an open 
resource to all of the University 
of Michigan, we see a lot of 
cross-pollination 
between 
students from different fields 
which can lead to some very 
interesting projects.”

O’Malley has seen many 
student projects, and some 
of the most interesting to 
her have been when students 
3D scan themselves to print 
miniatures or to paper craft 
armatures. Others use the 
data to CNC route (a computer 
controlled cutter) to cut large 
foam statues.
“I think the most intriguing 
art projects that utilize 3D 
printing are those that make 
smart use of the technology 
to do things that haven’t been 
done before or can’t be done 
with 
traditional 
means 
of 
fabricating,” O’Malley wrote. 
“I am also always excited to 
see other technologies feed 
into the 3D printing process.”
However, 
O’Malley 
has 
noticed some restrictions with 
the 3D printers, especially 
because 
they 
require 
that 
the artist have the technical 
knowledge 
that 
goes 
into 
making the CAD (computer 
aided design program) model 
of the project they want to 
print.
“I would like to see these 
technologies 
become 
more 
artist-friendly,” 
O’Malley 
wrote. 
“3D 
printers 
are 
restricted in many ways that 
artists have to design around. 
A lot of people have the 
expectation that a 3D printer 
should work as seamlessly 
as a paper printer, and I see 
a lot of companies trying to 
progress 
toward 
achieving 

that experience.”
O’Malley herself started out 
in the video game industry, 
working 
on 
cross-platform 
game development for XBox, 
Playstation and Wii. She now 
finds working at the University 
to be a way to blend her 
background with her interest 
in cutting edge technologies 
and virtual reality platforms.
When O’Malley looks to the 
future of 3D technologies and 
art, she hopes for improvement 
from both the artistic side 
as well as the technical side, 
because while 3D technology 
is used to create art, art skills 
are used to transform science 
and engineering projects from 
an idea to reality.
“In 3D visualization we 
see a lot of rough diagrams 
and other visuals that are 
constructed by scientists or 
engineers, 
and 
they 
often 
lack the aesthetic to make 
them look professional but 
also the visual cues that tell 
the viewer what is important 
or how to travel coherently 
through the data,” O’Malley 
wrote. “It takes a very skilled 
artist 
to 
reinterpret 
this 
kind of complicated data in a 
more coherent way. I would 
like to see artists that are 
more adaptive to this visual 
language, 
but 
also 
more 
people seeking visualizations 
who realize the importance 
of a strong aesthetic when 
communicating their ideas.”

Groundworks at the Dude:
art intersects with 3D tech

LOCAL SPOTLIGHT

NITYA GUPTA
Daily Arts Writer

BSIDE LEAD

The Daily spoke 

with PAT students 

about the unique 

characteristics of 

the University’s 

program that 

facilitate the 

marriage 

between art and 

technology as well 

as the intrinsic 

innovation within 

the major