In early 2013, I began question the ubiquitous use of the timeline in media art.  In most audiovisual media, there is a beginning, an end, and series of changes in between.  Why are we locked into one dimensional experiences dictated by the passage of time? As an improvising performer, I create art in three-dimensions(at least!) so why when I combine media art with my performances am I suddenly locked into a timeline?  In the first iteration of Baudi(o) Painting I commissioned a score from Kit Soden.  I sent him a timeline of how I wanted emotion and orchestration to progress over the 15 minutes of the show. He did a great job and I began to study the music and rehearse to it regularly.  This had some serious implications. The more I practiced, the more I could anticipate what would happen next on stage.  My beatboxing became very tight with the music and my movements became choregraphed with the music. I was timelined, and the show was amazing.  But as amazing as it was, I came to realize that my favorite moments where when technical difficulties broke the show and I had to rise to a higher level and keep the show going.

 

So I began working on what I called a spacecube.  Instead of parameters shifting predictably over time, they would shift as my body moved though three-dimensional space.  Standing in one area of the Kinect's vision, extending my hand forward would control short delays on my voice. In another area, my hand would control longer rhythmic delays.  Step backwards, my left hand would control the rhythm and volume of a kick drum sample, while my right hand would control a cutoff and resonance of a filter on the kick drum.  Finally, in a certain position, my hand would control the pitch, volume, and general dopeassness of a dubsteppy womp bass.  After some practice and much code tweaking, I presented the performance at Les Maître du Feu, Theatre 314, and at the opening of The School for Poetic Computation.

The show was a success, and inhabiting the spacecube was a lot of fun.  So when electronic songstress Alarke asked me to perform at the premiere of her new music video, I replace the soundtrack to Baudi(o) Painting with the spacecube and gave the graphics an overhaul to create a body-controlled audiovisual instrument that I could improvise within.

In conclusion, the spacecube was a huge leap forward for my performance practice, and I've only scratched the surface. And the next time you check my portfolio? I may be inhabiting a spacetimetesseract.

 

jussayin'.....