KikiT VisuoSonic

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). Russell programmes 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).

Concept

Convergent Immersive Performance