01 Sep Trip[tych]
Fall 2009
In preparation for my thesis show, I began developing a series of pieces involving different uses of live visuals in relation to music. I was particularly interested in the fact that in many cases the visuals were being led by the music, that is, they were representing the music without having the music react to them. This process seems broken to me, so I tried to think of an idea that was more of a feedback loop.
Trip[tych] treats the visualist as the conductor of the overall musical action. Three musicians sit behind see through scrims that are projected on. The musicians are only allowed to play while their particular screen is lit up in front of them. While the musicians are improvising off eachother, they are also supposed to be working off of visual cues being projected in front of them. The visualist is also reacting live to what they are playing, so dynamic changes are seen and heard very fluidly. The use of scrims also solved a problem I was having with projecting on a rectangular screen and how that disconnects the projection from the performers. By setting up the projection in this way, I was able to create a multilayered space with the musicians in between. The content of the projections was based on a late night cab ride I had back from a show in NYC.
The first performance of Trip[tych] was at the West Hall Auditorium at the Fall 2009 MFA show. It featured Kyle McDonald on drums, Will Rogers on saxophone, and David Rhoderick on guitar effects pedal. It was also performed at my thesis show, Overflow.
You can read more about Trip[tych] in my thesis.