Maite!

hola! My name is Maite de Orbe and I am a Spanish multidisciplinary artist living and working in London. I use she/her pronouns.

In my practice I use the mediums of analogue photography, video, text, technology, and installation in order to create environments and narratives that achieve to unveil and resolve complex dynamics that perpetuate oppressive systematic relationships. Aiming to re-imagine and explore new ways of existing, I focus on the themes of data feminism, situated knowledges, theory of representation, queer spaces, and speculative fiction.

I studied a BA(Hons) Photography at London College of Communication and currently doing an MFA in Computational Arts at Goldsmiths University. My work has been shown nationally (London, York, Brighton) and internationally in galleries (Madrid, London, Barcelona), fairs (Paris), in both individual and collective exhibitions, as well as online in interviews and magazine editorials.

For enquiries, artist statement, CV or just to say hi get in touch by email: maite.orbe@gmail.com

two. echoes from the semiospheres

arduino, analogue photography, projection, performance

“ser de barro” is an object, light, and performance based artifact that challenges the idea of history as an objective and universal story that can satisfy the multiple experiences of those (human and non-human) who lived the event. It takes the photographic medium as a key case study of what has been a tool of representing the ‘truth’. Rocks have been photographed in film to symbolize the solid and the immutable which are characteristic of normative history telling, and the strip of 35mm film is set in the artifact which turns the film round in loops mimicking a 16mm film projector. In every loop, the film is pressed under a piece of sand paper stuck in a block of wood. As this happens, the image is slowly being transformed, just like the memories of our experiences. Therefore, the image projected is never the same. In order to experience the projected image, 3 white LEDs have been soldered together and programmed to turn on when an ultrasonic sensor is being activated. The sensor is placed at the front of the machine, opposite to the LEDs, so that that which activates the sensor is the same where the film is projected (see video for furher reference). Aimed to be a participatory installation, subjects are encouraged to activate the projection with their presence in front of the machine. As the film is projected on one’s body, only the surrounding subjects can experience this projection. This system makes the performance collaborative and immersive, where the constantly being destroyed film is happening on the skin of the different subjectivities. As the image is erased, more light can reach the skin, enlightening the individual experiences of those who activate the projection.

website,
MAX,
botanics
arduino,
text.

This research based project was made in collaboration with Pietro Bardini, Lucie Štěpánková, and James Treagus

Investigating the means by which entities can be defined by their relationships rather than their conventional classification, ‘Echoes from the Semiospheres’ is a multimedia piece resulting from the research of the electrochemical mycorrhizal transmissions of the roots of a peace lily plant and their sonification. Through micro-voltage sensors and digital processing, these frequencies are harvested and manifested in two ways. Firstly, the data are presented in a humanly inaudible form which challenges the anthropocentric views applied to plant intelligence, communal behaviours and non-verbal means of communication and knowledge-making. Secondly, the collected data are programmed to interfere with Claude Debussy’s impressionist piano piece ‘Clair de Lune’ as a demonstration of the existence of these processes and for the audience to hear.

three. cosmic concert for the end of the world

processing,
live data,
astronomy
generative sound

/* "COSMIC CONCERT FOR THE END OF THE WORLD"
BY MAITE DE ORBE
JAN 2021
LINK TO VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inkTy4q9jOA&feature=youtu.be&ab_channel=MaitedeOrbe

- GENERAL DESCRIPTION:
THE FOLLOWING CODE ORCHESTRATES A LIVE CONCERT OF UPLOADED SOUNDS AND
PARTICLES THAT ARE MOVED BY THE LIVE DATA INPUT OF THE SUN AND MOON ALTITUDE, DISTANCE, AND
AZIMUZ GATHERED FROM AN ONLINE API.

- STRUCTURE DESCRIPTION:
TWO LINES ARE DRAWN IN THE CANVAS, A HORIZONTAL ONE AND A VERTICAL ONE BY
USING FOR LOOPS IN A SEPARATE CLASS CALLED MOON_SOUND_SYSTEM (DIAGONAL LINE) AND SUN_SOUND_BALL
(HORIZONTAL LINE). THESE ARE THEN DISPLAYED IN THE MAIN CODE AND, FOR EACH LINE, HALF OF THE
BALLS LOCATIONS ARE NOTED.

A SERIES OF PARTICLES (SUNS -ORANGE ONES- AND MOONS-WHITE ONES-) ARE CODED TO ROTATE
IN CIRCULAR MOTIONS. THERE ARE 6 MOONS AND 6 SUNS AND EACH ONE CORRESPONDS TO A POINT
IN THE DIAGONAL AND HORIZONTAL LINES. EACH MOON AND SUN WILL PASS OVER TWO OPPOSITE
BALLS IN THE LINE.

WHEN THIS HAPPENS, A SERIES OF SOUND FILES ALREADY UPLOADED TO THE PROGRAM WILL PLAY
THEMSELVES ONLY WHEN THE SUN AND MOON GO OVER ONE OF THEIR TWO CORRESPONDING PARTICLES
- THIS DECISION WAS MADE SO THAT THE PROGRAM WOULD NOT OVERLOAD ITSELF WITH SOUNDS AND
ALLOW TIME SPACE TO LISTEN TO THE DIFFERENT SOUNDS BY GIVING EACH SOUND A FULL CIRCLE
TRAjECTORY RATHER THAN JUST HAVE OF THE CIRCLE TRAJECTORY.

THE SPEED OF THE MOVING SUN AND MOON DEPEND ON THE LIVE MOVEMENTS OF THE ALTITUDE, AZIUM AND
DISTANCE OF THE REAL SUN AND THE REAL MOON IN THE STATED LOCATION - MADRID, SPAIN - ON A
REAL TIME BASIS. FOR THIS, A URL IS UPLOADED FROM A LIVE DATA API AND THE LIVE PARAMETERS
ARE REDUCED TO SMALLER NUMBERS TO ADAPT ITSELF TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE SOUND AND THE
PROGRAM.

OVERALL THE FINAL RESULT IS A COMBINATION OF AN HUMAN AND COSMIC ORCHESTRATED CONCERT
IN WHICH THE DESIGN HAS BEEN DONE VERY CONSCIOUSLY WHILE COMPOSITION IS LET TO THE PROGRAM
AND THE LIVE DATA VALUES OF THE SUN AND THE MOON.

- CONCEPT:
THE CONCEPT BEHIND THE CODE RELIES ON THE HARD SITUATIONS THAT WE MIGHT SOMETIMES
ENCOUNTER IN LIFE - A FEW YEARS BACK, A SERIOUS TRAUMATIC EXPERIENCE OCCURRED IN MY
FAMILY AND, DURING THE PROCESS OF OVERCOMING IT, A FRIEND OF MINE ONCE SAID THAT EVEN THOUGH
IT SEEMS LIKE PROBLEMS ARE NOT GETTING ANY EASIER, TIME IS THE GREATEST HEALER. AND WHILE WE
WAIT FOR THAT TIME TO PASS BY, EVERY DAY, WITHOUT US DOING ANYTHING, THE WORLD KEEPS
MOVING, AND DAYS WILL CONTINUE TO PASS EVEN THOUGH WE DO NOT DO ANYTHING FOR IT TO
HAPPEN - AND THIS IS SOMETHING WE SHOULD BE GRATEFUL FOR AND THAT CAN BE A REMINDER
OF HOW THINGS WILL BE GETTING BETTER - IF WE JUST RELY ON THE UNIVERSE TO KEEP
ON MOVING. BECAUSE OF THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE CURRENT SITUATION WITH COVID, AND BREXIT,
AND MORE PERSONAL REASONS, I HAVE THOUGHT ABOUT THIS IDEA OVER AND OVER AND DECIDED THAT
I WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A LIVE SOUND PIECE THAT COULD ONLY HAPPEN IF THE SUN AND THE MOON
KEPT MOVING.

- CODE REFERENCES:
ALL SOUND EFFECTS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED FROM https://www.zapsplat.com
LIVE DATA WAS TAKEN FROM: https://ipgeolocation.io/astronomy-api.html
LIVE DATA URL: https://api.ipgeolocation.io/astronomy?apiKey=f254948815564e3787e1d47e22a0f2b0&location=Madrid,%20Spain
LIVE DATA PASSWORD: f254948815564e3787e1d47e22a0f2b0
BACKGROUND IMAGE: ARTWORK BY Estefania Loret de Mola (https://www.instagram.com/stefyloret/)

OTHER TOOLS USED:
JSON FORMATER: https://jsonformatter.curiousconcept.com/#
ELLIPSE CIRCULAR MOVEMENT: https://forum.processing.org/one/topic/move-elements-along-the-ellipse-path.html
JSON VIDEO TUTORIAL: http://learningprocessing.com/videos/18-4
CIRCULAR MOTION MOVEMENT: https://forum.processing.org/one/topic/circular-motion-example-7-14-getting-started-replace-ellipse-with-other-shape-in-loop.html
SOUND REFERENCE LIBRARY; https://processing.org/reference/libraries/sound/
TEXT REFERNCE: https://processing.org/reference/text_.html
OBJECT AND CLASS BUILDING REFERENCE: http://learningprocessing.com/videos/8-0http://learningprocessing.com/videos/8-0

*/