JASON J. SNELL
Jason J. Snell
Photo by Mike Weber
Start with the Impossible
and work back from there.
If I start with what is doable, the project is just a little better than doable.
If I start with what is impossible, the project is just shy of impossible.
I’m an artist and inventor who performs electronic music with biosensors and builds generative art systems.
Artist CV | Full Bio | Contact
Using the mind to make music.
2018-Present
Photo by Andrew Hallinan
Primary Assembly is a musical neurofeedback system that converts live brain activity from an EEG headband into musical compositions, rendering consciousness into perceivable sound. It has been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian Hirshhorn, MIT, NYU, and dozens of other conferences, festivals, and institutions.
Public Installations
Equity is the core principle of public art, removing the barrier of social pressures that a person may feel when walking into a gallery or performance that is filled with people that may not look like them. Public spaces give people the agency to engage with the art freely and at any time, providing access to the broadest audience regardless of class, race, or gender identity.
My installations are generative art spaces – the visitor’s presence becomes a key element of the art. Pedestrian movement and play is the catalyst for my installations to wake up and be shaped by the user’s interaction.
Pedestrian-interactive lighting system.
Iowa City, IA, 2021
Photo by Jason Smith
Sprites is a permanent, interactive light installation in a downtown Iowa City alleyway. Based on “Mutable Sequencing,” a prior public art piece, “Sprites” uses motion sensors detect pedestrian movement and trigger a “sprite” – a cluster of colored light – to come greet the pedestrian and accompany them through the alley. Time of day, air temperature, and even the gravitational pull of the moon influence the color, brightness, and animations of the lighting system. For concerts, the system can convert 6 bands of audio frequencies into distinct colors, transforming live music into an array of colors.
Motion-Generated Music
I developed a technology system that transforms a dancer’s motion into music. The dancer wears sensors which wirelessly transmit motion data to my software, which converts it into music. This system enables the dancer to become the composer and choreographer in a powerful form of biofeedback-driven improvisational dance. This work exemplifies how technology and biofeedback can be used to empower and amplify our humanity.
Photo by Pete Lasell
Artificial Intelligence
In 2014, I developed a music application with an artificial intelligence called “Refraktions.” The app learns a musician’s compositional style and generates similar compositions using a genetic algorithm. The app produces evolving MIDI sequences that can be routed to other music apps, external hardware instruments, or become triggers for video clips and other visual outputs.
Ethically, the system is not designed to autonomously generate content, but requires critical decision making from the musician. These projects exemplify ways to use artificial intelligence in artistic projects that don’t threaten the agency or livelihood of the artist, but provide more useable content than randomizing generators.
A.I. generated music video.
Ant Zen Records, Germany, 2018
How to Play Dead is a music video created with the Refraktions artificial intelligence system. The A.I. played several synthesizers and triggered corresponding video clips, improvisationally assembling the video in real-time. This became the title song of a full album of A.I. material, released on the German avant-garde label Ant Zen.
Film
The majority of my art career emerged from making VHS art films in high school and their accompanying soundtracks. I use film – a medium merging motion, sound design, and narrative – to render hyper-real explorations of the mind and body.
Short film exploring movement and the subconscious.
Berlin Independent Film Festival, 2017
Fever is a short film that premiered at the Berlin Independent Film Festival in 2017. It’s theme and use of sound to augment movement were precursors to my EEG and motion-sensor work. An A.I. version of the film was performed at Triptronics in Los Angeles, 2018.
Does generational trauma impact our DNA?
ManifestIO, Berlin, 2023
ACGT sonifies my DNA and explores if generational trauma has transformed these sequences. This film premiered at ManifestIO Berlin at Alte Münze in Berlin in 2023.
Electronic Music
I’ve performed my original electronic music at more than 180 shows in North America and Europe. I’ve released 16 albums, 33 EPs and singles, and have 45 appearances on compilation albums. I produced music, print and web branding, and multimedia content for the avant-garde breakcore label, Low Res Records (1998-2012), and managed its sub-label, Division 13 (2000-2013).
Bombardier, 13th Hour, 5th of July, The Space Where She Was, Kamphetamine, Useless Generation
1995-Present
New York University
25 years after my Bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, I returned to college to earn a Master’s at the NYU Interactive Media Arts Low Res program. This 1-year global intensive spanned New York City, Berlin, and my thesis work was completed at NYU Shanghai. The program was a blend of art, art history, engineering, and computer science, and my studies focused on sonification, neuroscience, and psychoacoustics.
Photo by Brian Ho
Watch research and performance videos
Community
The action behind gratitude is giving back to the communities that helped me become an artist and developed who I am as a person. Besides presenting my work in schools and community institutions, I often volunteer my time and expertise in my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Free monthly synthesis workshop.
Cedar Rapids, IA, 2019-2022
Photo by Mike Weber
I founded the Newbo Synth Group, a free monthly workshop that teaches synthesis and audio engineering for both beginners and experts. I also helped launch a counterpart program for DJing. Each meeting features multiple artists and has a combination of performances and educational demonstrations. The series is held at PS1 in Iowa City and began at CSPS Hall, the art institution to first present my art when I was in high school.
