Welcome to KikiT VisuoSonic's official Website

2008

September 23
Fast Forward (Design & The Visual-Sonic Interface, The London Design Festival 2008) Birbeck Cinema - 41 Gordon Square, WC1 OPD, University of London

November 19-20
Gallery performances in response to the exhibition: Constructed - Abstract and Constructivist Art, Architecture and Design, Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, UEA Norwich

KikiTVisuoSonic uses real-time sound-image interactivity to create immersive environments in which the art gallery, the concert hall, the theatre and the cinema converge into a ‘total’ performance space.

The non-digital and digital inter-relating of sound and visuals has a long history; from nineteenth-century ‘colour organs’ through to early twentieth-century Futurist sound-image experiments, and more recently through dynamic light shows at musical performances and the emergence of VJ-ing. These initiatives, both analogue and digital, have sought to inter-relate sound and visuals to produce an outcome bigger than the sum of the parts.

This experimental domain is now sufficiently mature for it to be defined as VisuoSonic(s) – real-time interactivity between sonic and visual agents. In a performance context, this places particular emphasis on the immediacy of the performance since the sonic element not only shapes the visual dynamic, but is in its turn shaped by its visual creation. In the context of KikiT VisuoSonic(s) the positive feedback loop takes place in an immersive environment bringing together elements from visual art, music, theatre and cinema.

KikiTVisuoSonic’s conceptual and aesthetic framework is the result of a creative partnership between Maurice Owen (visual and sonic art) and Russell Richards (media studies and digital art). Richards' Lingo programming in Macromedia Director created KikiT’s computational framework enabling the exhibiting and performing arts to overlap in a convergent environment. In practical terms the sonic input is fed into the computational system in real-time as either an analogue or a digital signal that is processed via Fast Fourier Transformation. The processed signal then triggers a variety of visual transformations (KikiT’s).

The visual parameters of the animation are determined by performance requirements and may include the use of vector graphics, bitmap graphics, pre-recorded and live video, pre-recorded sound and live generated Shockwave 3D objects incorporating real-time site-specific video (an alleged technical first).

Each KikiTVisuoSonic performance is unique because of the way in which the performer creates and responds to the visual output in real-time. The output is projected onto any appropriate surface or surfaces and serves as a real-time visualisation of the performers sonic input. Performance modes to date have included working with musicians, sonic artists, singers, poets, actors, dancers, video artists, cinematographers and visual artists.