"12" - Spatial Polymeter

UNNIKRISHNAN KALIDAS

Project Description

Music pieces composed in the past were typically of longer duration with intricate musical nuances embedded in them, and this often required the listener to pay more attention to the piece in order to better appreciate the composition. Stalling attention spans and ‘Skipping culture’ on most music streaming services today have led to musical compositions being of shorter duration with the choruses composed upfront for the immediate gratification of the listener. Various experiments and explorations are conducted to better visually understand music as part of my graduate research for the M.Des in Digital Futures program at OCAD University. By projecting visual elements within a performance space I am trying to better emulate music, specifically the aspect of rhythm as rhythm occurs periodically and can be easily predicted by the audience.

Within a performative setting the audience do not have the agency to skip to the next track unlike a streaming service. The primary objective here is to narrow the distance between the audience and the performer, with the help of visuals. The project is an interactive live Audio-Visual performance that exemplifies the concept of rhythm with the help of a spatial-polymeter of ¾ and 4/4 time signatures, to better convey what is felt than heard.