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Using
a variety of technologies and mechanisms, this performance
investigates the complex nature of the universe; breaking
it down to simple elements that, when combined, produce
unimaginable complexities. It suggests that the universe
itself is a simple fluctuation in a void and ultimately
nothingness prevails.
The
performance lasts 15 minutes (not including set-up time)
and needs to take place in a
confined space so it can be filled with ‘smoke’.
The
video starts out with a simple white line on a black field.
A distortion gradually emerges to become an amorphous
shape that fluctuates in and out of existence. Over time
more fluctuations appear and interact to produce a constant
fluctuation. This fluctuation grows more and more complex,
eventually encompassing images of nebula, planetary systems,
nature and humans. At its most detailed, images from the
personal life and experiences of the artist come to the
fore. All images and details soon are engulfed in fractal
forms which fluctuate and diminish until we are back to
the static white line on the black field.
The
audio track, being mixed live by the performer, follows
a similar dynamic to the video; i.e. starting with simple
wave forms and gradually becoming more complex. It features
sampled spoken words (from the movie ‘Svengali’)
including the phrases: “There is nothing in your
mind”, “There is nothing in your soul”
and “There is nothing in your heart”. These
phrases are reiterated by the slide projectors which project
text in moving beams that traverse the ‘smoke’
filled room like a lighthouse beam in fog.
The
technology being used is a mixture of simple low-tech
and complex state of the art. The theremin is an example
of the earliest electronic sound generators; consisting
of simple occilators forming interference patterns to
produce waveforms, yet it is being used to control the
flow of complex digital soundforms produced with the latest
fractal sound design software. Equally the slide projectors,
simple light sources casting shadows from miniature images
with mechanized prisms splitting the beams, display text
generated with hi-tech imaging software.
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