Although Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) are not new, they remain on the fringes of musical performance. We donât wait for the mainstream to catch up with the times, instead, we push forward innovative approaches to musical performance in this context. DMIs open doors to exploration of gestures as part of a narrative that supports the musical expression and sound object manipulation, which leads to the possibility of âstory tellingâ using gesture and sound. We embrace the recent (and not so recent) development of network technologies enabling remote collaboration, virtual reality, creative coding and integration of different creative audio-visual tools and digital lutherie. This leads us to creating performances in virtual or hybrid spaces. We are inspired by traditional ways of multidisciplinary artistic expression and map them to the digital world.
This project builds upon our previous experience of telematic music practice spanning several years. Our paths have crossed during the COVID-19 pandemic, and weâve stepped onto a fresh path of contributing our skills and ideas to develop a practice that involves Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs); balancing In-Real-Life (IRL) and virtual presence; scenographies that are adapted to the hybrid reality; and relationship with the audiences.
Improvisation offers a vehicle to explore the fringes push the boundaries of instrumental and musical practices. ItImprovisation is also a medium that presents the fundamental challenges of telematic practice. We use improvisation to challenge the inherent issues and harsh realities of telematics, and develop intuition to extend this practice beyond the technicalities of latency, and required technological pipelines. Creating performances that are responsive and interactive yet up against the realities of remote performance and latency. We use improvisation to challenge the inherent issues with telematics and develop intuition to extend our practice. The musical practice has extended to performances that include live video and lighting elements to create a specific visual, instrumental and musical aesthetic.
By choosing remote musical practice utilizing DMIs, we have embraced the fact that we need to question and challenge various aspects of the traditional musical practice. These include: social dynamics and logistics surrounding rehearsals and public performances, cultural identity, notions of virtuosity, and digital ecosystems.
We create a live comprovisation built around a sonic and lighting conversation, enabled by telematic/telepresence/teleperformance technologies.
Dirk Johan Stromberg is an improviser, music technologist, and composer. His body of work explores the dynamic interaction between performer, technology, and performance practice. Designing both hardware and software has led to the development of a variety of interfaces, synthesis techniques, installation works, electro-acoustic instruments, and interdisciplinary production works most notably his work with new musical instruments.
Current projects include Redspills a trio of DMIs working on VR telematic work in residency at La Sat in Montreal, a number of commissions for new DMIs and the creation and performance of collaborative works in Europe, Canada, US and in South East Asia. His touring has led to a number of performances in Asia, North America and Europe including Moers Festival (Moers Germany), KLEX Festival (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), Map Festival (Melaka, Malaysia), Choppa Festival (Singapore), Open Waters Festival (Halifax Canada), Duong Dai Festival (HCMC and Hanoi, Vietnam), M1 Fringe Festival (Singapore) and Dear Himalaya From Chiang Mai (Chiang Mai, Thailand).
MichaĹ Seta is a sound artist, improviser, coder and digital arts researcher. Transdisciplinarity is his daily bread and he conjures it in his personal and professional life. He co-founded the band No One Receiving as well as UniSecs, a spoken word and electroacoustic music duo. As a coder, he has contributed to his own work and that of other artists. He has served as a reasearch assistant to Sandeep Bhagwati, where he developed several digital scores. He has ventured into interactive art installations with [IR]rational, a commission from the Montreal Science Centre, and Re-Collect, an award-winning project that has been presented in North America, Europe and the Middle East. His short film [*]nScape was selected for the first Drone Cinema Film Festival and was followed by several musical releases in rapid succession, mainly on Silent Records. Recently, he has been interested in using video games as a vehicle for musical expression.
RedSpills – Although Digital Musical Instruments (DMIs) are not new, they remain on the fringes of musical performance. We donât wait for the mainstream to catch up with the times, instead, we push forward innovative approaches to musical performance in this context. DMIs open doors to exploration of gestures as part of musical expression, which leads to the possibility of âstory tellingâ using gesture and sound. We embrace the recent (and not so recent) development of network technologies enabling remote collaboration, virtual reality, creative coding and integration of different creative audio and visual tools. This leads us to creating performances in virtual or hybrid spaces. We are inspired by traditional ways of multidisciplinary artistic expression and map them to the digital world.
