Meshes of Monterey is a film & composition in which satellite images of the coastline of Monterey Bay are interpreted as musical notation. The cresting waves captured by LandSat 8 in 2014 rhythmically ebb and flow like melodic lines, while the coast itself becomes a droning saw, interpreted lived by cellist Chris Beros-Haiges. Gaps in the waves are rendered as cellphone interference by Shanna Polley, the composer, who collaborated with me on this project from the beginning.
The piece invites us to consider the non-human & the post-human eye; if a satellite could write music, how would it do so? Only being an eye in space, without limbs or freedom of movement, where would it turn to? It would turn, I speculate, to the naturally occurring rhythms of the climate and planetary systems. What would it sound like? That is an ongoing investigation for Shanna and I, as we continue to iterate on interpreting this speculative musical score.
