About our work

Situated at an especially exciting moment, as novel and sophisticated technologies to augment reality become widely available to artists and the general public, our research / creation efforts seek to discover new modes of artistic expression / experience and audience engagement that will lead to new forms and contexts for future Music/Dance performance experiences by composer Zack Settel, choreographer Peter Trosztmer, creative technologist Osman Zeki and dramaturge/choreographer Sarah Manya.

Since 2018 the artists have engaged in activities of research, development, creation and public presentation. Their efforts are structured according to a series of specific artistic and technical investigations, each of which begins with particular research questions , and ends with a proof-of-concept public presentation. Our overall plan is to incrementally accumulate experience and understanding that will guide subsequent research activity and progressively shape our imaginations and the experiences we create. The scope of our work includes activity with collaborators in artistic and technological research / development, dance workshopping, and presentation. At the core, our efforts are driven by artistic curiosity; equally driven are our collaborators, who seek to transform the experiences of their performance venues and to create new audiences.

In short, we intend to investigate new experiences for music and dance performance, enabled by techniques to mix and augment realities.

Overview

Rendering the Invisible

The realm of the imagination is encountered in real spaces, immersing dancers and public alike.

Microscopes and telescopes allow us to access an otherwise invisible world — with or without these, the micro and macroscopic worlds are just as real and infinite as the one we directly perceive around us.

As creators, we delight in the playful experiences of discovery and revelation that mystify, challenge and amaze us — that feed our curiosity and imagination. We are drawn to these kinds of experiences because they reveal new dimensions in the world of movement where music, dance and play connect.

We are elevated and transformed by these revelations — like when looking through a microscope for the first time.

Engaging the Invisible

2 trailer min.mp4

Musical notes create music as they flow down a hallway

breakDanceAtHomeShort.mp4

Expressive strangers operate in familiar spaces.

breakdanceInSnowShort.mp4

Real spaces, indoors or out, can be co-opted and transformed to venues of artistic expression.

Captured movement histories

Photo Credit: Gjon Mili

... rendered as "sculpted" objects in 3D space.

Image credits: Shinichi Maruyama,

... emitting light

Image credit: Scott-Pal

Music physically occupies space, and is structured and encountered based on movement.

An overlaid virtual space re-contextualizes interaction with sound and music in the real space.

Audiovisual formes, no longer contained by the projection surface, can occupy the volume of the performance space and operate in the intimate space surrounding audience members.