In Real Time: a Live Video and Sound Performance
Saturday, October 26th, 4pm
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center
22-25 Jackson Ave, Long Island City, NY 11101
718.784.2084
Gallery N102

For this performance event, video artist Lukasz Lysakowski and electronic musicians o.blaat (aka Keiko Uenishi) and So Takahashi create an improvised audio and visual environment of abstract moving images and digital sound.

P.S.1's current exhibition of Chris Cunningham's work includes videos the artist made for a Bjork song and Aphex Twin tracks, and points to the dynamic relationship between video and song. Other artists have recently moved away from these narrative compositions and have explored the possibilities for open-ended, simultaneous improvisations between video artists and musicians.

The performance highlights a reciprocal relationship between the images and the soundscape: the musicians' choices are influenced by the visual imageries generated, just as the improvised video compositions are inspired by the sounds. The technology also yields a more direct relationship: the audio signals from the musicians' laptop computers are directly connected to Lysakowski's custom software program, which immediately translates the sounds into visual data, thus enabling the music to play an important role in generating, in real-time, the video images. These constantly changing variables allow for a dynamic, uncertain, and evolving audio/visual environment, and an alternative to the traditional narrative and linear structure of the music video.

O.blaat (aka Keiko Uenishi) and So Takahashi are New York-based electronic musicians both originally from Japan. Working mostly on laptop computers, their music reveals a sensibility for minimalist textures to create moments of fragile bits and bytes and digital noise. Both have performed and exhibited around the world. Takahashi has released recordings on Carpark Records, and o.blaat is planning to release on Tellus Records soon.

Admission: Free