An audiovisual meditation on memory, consciousness, mortality, and transcendence viewed through the recursive structure of the Mandelbrot set. Beginning with distant stars and guitar harmonics, the piece traces a symbolic bicyclist traveling through shifting states of existence — wonder, nostalgia, loss, and ultimately transcendence. Visual and musical transformations mirror the instability of memory; in the final moments the bicyclist rises from the earth and disappears into the heavens. Program notes generated in collaboration with ChatGPT.
Barry McNaughton is the director of guitar and instrumental performance at Moreno Valley College. He received his Master’s degree in Classical Guitar Performance from USC in 2002 and is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in composition at UCR. He has won the USC Classical Guitar Departmental Award and faculty of the year awards at Crafton Hills College and Moreno Valley College, and has performed live on KUSC, KMOZART, and KPFK.