Human Forms And Abstract Visuals Combine In This New Project

In the video for this AV digital performance piece Arch of Neo, a human body comes flickering into life, drawing you in with its twitchy motion as as you squint to catch the fleeting form illuminated by the searching light. The human form is given an otherworldly appearance in this “visual music film.” There are a lot of artists who like to tackle the oxymoronic task of creating visual music, like Danny Perez who used a similar term to describe his film ODDSAC, calling it a “visual album”. It’s often the case that narrative takes a rain check, leaving the viewer to become immersed in the language of the moving image and accompanying sound, echoing the way music can transfix you on melody alone.

In this video, called MMST, the visuals alternate between the movements of the body and the splintering projected patterns, the fluid movements of both and the throb and pulse of the electronic music create a hypnotic and haunting experience, and the fluctuating patterns create an almost underwater, rippling effect. In its exploration and pairing of the human form with digital projections, it’s reminiscent of Hellicar & Lewis’ reactive dance piece Divide by Zero, showing how AV performances don’t have to be absent of a human figure. The video forms the second part of a collaborative project between Niclas Kristiansson and Matti Pentikäinen who do the sound, and Petri Ruikka and Heikki Ryynänen who provide the accompanying visuals. The first part is below.

Both pieces mix the human form with abstract visuals, creating a sense of displacement and disorientation, while showing that, like Creator Lumpens often highlights, digital media and human performance can compliment each other perfectly. We think they’ll have a bright future together.

[via Triangulation blog]