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I started by looking into the history

of Audio and Visual work. The visu-­

alization of sound has been a point

of interest for artists since the

1920’s. A book that I found extremely

informative See this Sound, revealed

especially Absolute Films. Film mak-­

ers such as Walter Ruttmann, Len Lye,

Viking Eggeling and Mary Ellen Bute

were among a few who experiment-­

ed with the coupling of visual and

-­

ration to the development of work.

I then took to researching the spa-­

cial and environmental aspect of the

history of projection and its promi-­

nent use during the 1960’s psyche-­

delic era by artist such as Bill

Ham

in collaboration with musicians to

create a true live experience. Pro-­

jection and spacial awareness was

also key in an earlier piece of work

I found to be pivotal to the devel-­

opment of the live experience today;;

Le Corbusier and Iannis Xenakis.

In order to further my investigation it

required me to seek contemporary practi-­

tioners. This is how I was introduced to

designers such as Eno Henze and multi-­ dis-­

ciplinarians such as Ryoji Ikeda and Carsten

Nicolai. Their live Audio and Visual shows

were the most innovative I had ever came

across, I learned much about their prac-­

tice by examining interviews they had given

and by visiting their personal websites.

Both Ikeda and Nicolai are composers them-­

selves. This was quite a revelation for me

as I always assumed a collaboration was

-­

and intellectual side to it, this allowed

me to realize that a piece of Audio and

Visual work can be more than just enter-­

taining. Through examining their work their

creative processes and tools were revealed

to me. They worked primarily on software

such as Touch Designer and utilized pro-­

jected light to create an atmosphere.

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An Audio and Visual performance I learned

revolves around ideas of immersion. This

I understood from the works of Ikeda who

I had been to see perform at the Barbi-­

can Hall in London. However that perfor-­

mance was quite formal and Ikeda has a

clear agenda and an idea to communicate

through his work. I wished to see a perfor-­

mance where immersion and atmosphere were

the key drivers. Therefore I decided to go

and see Eno Henze perform. He was playing

in London in collaboration with musician

Matthew Dear aka Audion. Eno’s kinetic in-­

stallation consisted of two spinning discs

with colourful patterns projected through

them. He would change the patterns and tim-­

ing according to the music being played.

After much secondary research and visiting live shows I had a clear idea about what my contemporaries were doing. I understood through their websites and blogs the tech-­nological processes they undertook. However what I did not know fully was the creative thought process and how they viewed their own work. I was hoping through answering these questions I would have a better un-­derstanding of where to take my own work. I decided to communicate through email and I sent quite a few out to creative such as, AntiVJ, Carsten Nicolai, D-­Fuse and oth-­ers. However in the end I only received two replies. Yet they were the best re-­plies. One from designer of the Plastikman live experience Ali Demirel and Eno Henze.The questions I sent are on my developmental blog, to the right are some of the answers I found to be quite important and interesting.

Eno Henze

I got acquainted with Sam Valenti,

the ghostly records label director,

in Detroit in 2008. He introduced

Matt and me, and initiated the col-­

laboration.

Every project is part of the whole

of experiences which you draw upon

when you start something new, or

conceive something new. So yes, but

no new project in particular.

I programmed and designed the piece

all by myself. I had some people

to accompany Matt on his tour to

set up the system and projection in

each venue.

The whole piece is about transform-­

ing the perception of the audience

by machines or digital means. It’s

revisiting the ideas of the light

-­

adays technologies.

The show was my concept and propos-­

al.

Ali Demirel

visual artist, I am a visual art-­

ist, who works on photo/video/

sculpture/architecture.

He (﴾Richie Hawtin aka Plastikman)﴿

is a collaborator for me. He in-­

spires me with his music and I re-­

ply to that inspiration visually.

During the initial process, I don’t

think much about the audience reac-­

tion. My real concern is the abso-­

lute artistic concept. Then I for-­

mulate my live performance thinking

of audience interaction…

It was clear through research as well as

my conversations with designers that in

order to develop a live experience, mu-­

sic or sound was necessary. As a crea-­

tive artefact I wished to build a per-­

formance however I was not in touch with

any composers or musicians, therefore

I decided to compose the audio myself.

The artefact developed through various as-­

pects of my investigation. The medium I

used, VHS tapes was inspired by my con-­

versation with Eno. He explained tak-­

ing things from the past and reinventing

with contemporary technologies. Hence my

decision to experiment with the archa-­

ic VHS tapes. The spacial elements of my

work were informed through my visits to

live shows, studying the proximity gave me

an insight into creating an immeersive

environment and how to direct attention.

By slicing VHS tapes at intervals of 30mm’s

and then reattaching them in no order I was

able to play the tapes and create strange

compositions. I tried to re-­create a 4/4

beat as this is a standard convention with-­

in music. I then proceeded to record the

sampled compositions and visualize them

through an old Alba television from 1999. The frequency of the composition was well

visualized by the television static as I

played it through my laptop. I then cre-­

ated an installation out of VHS tape and

projected the television static onto it.

1. Robert Henke, Atlantic Waves.

http://www.tate.org.uk/intermediaart/im-­

ages/15508_Robert_Henke544.gif

2. Carsten Nicolai, Alvanoto.

http://www.serialconsign.com/imag-­

es/2007/06/bretschneider.jpg

3. Mary Ellen Bute, Len Lye, Bill Ham, Le

Corbusier.

http://govettbrewster.com/Gallery/75fb6ca4

33b823e3c6573ec40.jpg

com/2605/3974991510_3182f46bd6.jpg

www.billhamlights.com/

http://www.arch.mcgill.ca/prof/sijpkes/

expo/10_Philips_Pavilion_at_the_Worlds_

Fair_Brussels_1-­528x400.jpg

4. Carsten Nicolai, Alvanoto

http://www.designboom.com/cms/images/ani-­

ta01/alvanoto.jpg

Ryoji Ikeda, Test Pattern.

http://www.ryojiikeda.com/project/testpat-­

tern/

Design InvestigationSeth De Silva

For this brief I was asked to select and explore in depth an area within contem-­

area I chose to investigate was Audio & -­

cause I see it as the direction I wish -­

ence was helpful in realizing my goal, it

An Audio & Visual performance usually in-­volves a live execution of both these ele-­

are themselves composers and would create a visual environment for their composi-­

-­dio Visual experience is a collaboration

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