#liveprojections

Visual Drums is an interactive installation that translates rhythm into geometric patterns. Audience uses the instrument as a digital percussion instrument that drives visuals instead of sound.

It was thought of as a fun way for people to interact with music and each other during a live show. Three people could tap the rhythm simultaneously on three iPads, their touches animating geometric arrangements projected behind musicians on the stage.

The instrument was created for the music performance opening Culture Move exhibition by Jaykoe. In this show the artist worked with percussionists from different cultural backgrounds within Brent Borough of London.

I wanted to play with the ideas of cooperation and cultural mixing that were central for the event. As the foundation I took Jaykoe’s Relational Demographics (Intercultural City I), a giant collage map of London made of pieces of traditional fabrics from different countries.

https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Collage-Relational-Demographics-Intercultural-City-I/175640/3187348/view

I used elements of ornaments from the map as constituting pieces for the geometric arrangements produced by the Visual Drum. Pieces that originate from ornaments of one culture could find themselves mixed with pieces representing another ornamental tradition and form a new moving unity. Visual Drum was designed to enhance music perception and enable active participation of the audience in the performance.

The screens of 3 iPads could be drummed on with left and right hands. Each iPad was sending signals about hand touches via OSC to a custom software patch written in TouchDesigner. The patch was translating this stream of rhythmic data into screen coordinates and geometric ratios for building visual compositions. I used Feedback TOPs to layer elements on top of each other. 

recording of my performance at LPM in Rome

I wanted to explore the possibility of combining the atmosphere of a party with meaningful images: rhythm and statements, melody and questions. Rhythm is usually associated with visual abstraction. How much could I deviate from this and move back into the real, into my life, a life which can be similar to the lives of the people who party?

short trailer for the performance

“Home Needs Love” is an audio-visual reflection on finding a sense of home in the age of global movement. It is a live cinema performance where video footage, still images and computer generated graphics are mixed together in real time reacting to the improvised music by a saxophone and keyboard duo.

The project visually explores the experiences of being an immigrant/expat and touches upon the topics of digital bubbles, local communities and cross cultural communal living.

The performance is informed by the London streetscapes and includes an interactive part where the audience is invited to participate by directly controlling the images projected onto the screen. In this way the viewers can express their relationship to the place they live in and have a visual dialogue with each other.

In September 2019 I played two first parts of Home Needs Love at the Festival of Everything organized by Eta.

I was lucky to have a chance to improvise the projection to the music played by Sarah Vos (flute) and Dirk Herre (hadpan) which was a great experience.