Touch Me Hear: Experimental and Multimedia Performance from Artburst Miami on Vimeo.

touch me hear

is an experimental multimedia work commissioned by Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center (New York). The opus explores the relationship between touch, sound and movement. Body parts and its extensions such as hair and clothes become performable musical instruments. From skin sensations to complex digital tactile simulations, the piece exposes disappearing awareness between what can be felt and what actually is. A continuum of scenes filled with humor, solitude and emotionally charged movement contemplate the contemporary world of intertwined vibrations and modalities.

The piece was developed through residencies at Inkub8 and Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center in the spring 2013.

Here is a video from the performance in New York.

 

"Sloshing and banging sounds are supplanted by squeaks, deep breathing, windy wails and a haunting dark melody line, reminiscent of Twin Peaks. Sounds emanate from various sources, including the costume's wig, as the tethered performers advance toward the bare dance floor. " George Fishman

Touch Me Hear is an experimental multimedia work that explores the relationship between touch, sound and movement conceived and directed by Juraj Kojs. Body parts and its extensions such as hair and clothes become performable musical instruments. From skin sensations to complex digital tactile simulations, the piece exposes disappearing awareness between what can be felt and what actually is. A continuum of scenes filled with humor, solitude and emotionally charged movement contemplate the contemporary world of intertwined vibrations and modalities. The scenes explore various manifestations of human and machine-induced tactile sensations. The performers become musical instruments and their bodies and movements are mapped to acoustic and electronic sounds. The sounds and performance actions develop from congruent to mismatched pairs. Touch Me Hear engages various custom-designed sensor and actuator technologies.

Juraj Kojs, direction, sound and music

Carlota Pradera, choreography and performance

JoAnna Ursal, performance

Kim Yantis, costumes

Juraj Kojs is a Slovakian composer, performer, multimedia artist and producer permanently residing in the US. Juraj's creative and research work reaches to the areas of music at the threshold of hearing, action-based acoustic and electroacoustic music, cyberinstruments created with physical modeling synthesis, tactile music, native instruments from central Europe, contemporary concert music, dance music, interactive audio-visual performance, muscle-powered multimedia, music with everyday objects and toys and graphic notation. Miami New Times described his muscle-powered multimedia Neraissance as "striking and unforgettable." Juraj is a co-founder of Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts (FETA) based in Miami, FL. He holds a PhD. in Composition and Computer Technologies from the University of Virginia, having taught at Aalborg University in Copenhagen, Denmark, Yale University and University of Virginia. Kojs currently teaches courses in the Audio Production Department at Ai Miami International University of Art and Design and University of Miami.

Carlota Pradera, Sabadell (Barcelona), Spain, 1979 holds a BA in performance and choreography from Florida International University, 2009. Carlota has been involved in the professional contemporary dance scene of South Florida since 2001 to the present through performance collaborations and original works at Florida Dances, The Emerging Choreographers Series, Here & Now, Moving Currents, and more. In 2011, she presents and produces “Pradera & Collaborators” with original works ‘Looking Back’ and ‘Think Like a Guy’, and in 2012, “Aquarius Juice” is commissioned for the Here & Now: 2012 by Miami Light Project. She has received support by CCE Miami and Anchor Arts Management (Professional Dancers Fund) and has been awarded the professional development grants Artist Access Grants (Movement Research | Winter Melt, 2004 and Trisha Brown Summer Intensive, 2007), and an Artist Enhancement Grant (Trisha Brown Summer Intensive, 2007). Carlota is strongly inclined and interested on interdisciplinary approaches to create works that hold originality and risks in relation to contemporary times as well as building conscious community outreach endeavors by bringing movement to the underserved.

JoAnna Ursal is an independent dance artist whose main movement research deals with Embodiment, Identity, and Decolonized Diasporic Aesthetics Trained in various techniques in Contemporary Dance, Afrocuban folkloric dance, and traditional dance from the Philippines, Ms. Ursal's polycultural approach to movement, research and pedagogy locates her work at the intersection of traditional and contemporary dance where 21st century issues of globalization, technology, and body politics reside. Additionally trained in classical piano, percussion and traditional Kolingtang (gamelan music from the Philippines), Ms. Ursal is deeply interested in investigating the interface of movement and sound as it relates to technology and performance studies. With an MA in dance education from of UCLA's World Arts and Cultures Program and an MFA in Dance and Choreography from Jacksonville University, Ms. Ursal is committed to teaching, mentoring and training young aspiring dancers in the field of choreography, dance film, dance history, pedagogy, contemporary and world dance and is currently an adjunct Professor of Dance at t Miami-Dade College, Kendall Campus' progressive and burgeoning dance department.

Kim Yantis, an MFA from Florida International University, began her career in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania where she received a BFA from Moore College of Art and Design in Painting and Printmaking. Her body of work draws inspiration from hypertext theory and incorporates non-linear narrative . This physical search for information is represented in her mixed media works which combine digital and hand drawn imagery, collage, stitching, in various formats. She recently was awarded a one year Artist Residency position at the Deering Estate at Cutler in Miami, Florida where she became the Artist in Residency Liaison and initiated several fine arts programs for the public and the home-school community. Her other accomplishments include a curatorial debut, Sharing the Press: Miami, an international show in the Dominican Republic, a juried exhibition Phantasm through the University of Miami, and several two person shows and collaborative performances in Austin, Texas and Miami, Florida. Her work was recently acquired by the Frost Museum of Art and The Girls Club of Fort Lauderdale Florida Art Collection/ Francie Bishop Good and David Horvitz.

Touch Me Hear engages various custom-designed sensor and actuator technologies as well as live audio processing. Wearable Haptic Interface is designed by Stefano Trento (Medialogy, Copenhagen) and Xuan Duan (Tactile Labs) as a grid of actuators remotely controlled by a custom-made iPad application. The DUL radios developed by the team of Rasmus Lunding at Aarhus University in Denmark enable wireless movement tracking.

Friday, May 31, 2013 at 8PM: Inkub8, Miami, FL

Saturday, June 1, 2013 at 8PM: Inkub8, Miami, FL

Friday, June 14, 2013 at 8PM: The Bridge, Miami, FL

Saturday, June 15, 2013 at 8PM: The Bridge, Miami, FL

Sunday, June 30, 2013 at 7:30PM: New York Electronic Arts Festival, New York at River to River Festival.

Sound, Touch and Action

The workshop investigates the relationship between sound, touch, movement and technology.  The participants engage various wireless technologies in creating short interactive performance projects. The particular focus is given to the investigation of sound-action pairs and the role of touch in their formation. The workshop culminates into the project presentations and feedback discussion. Presented by Juraj Kojs, musician and technologist and Carlota Pradera, dancer and choreographer.

May 22, 2013 (7-9PM): Inkub8, Miami, FL

July 1, 2013 (1-6PM): Harvestworks, New York.

An article by Miami Arburst's George Fishman

An article by Neil de la Flor

A video by Miami Artburst's Carlos Ochoa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photo by C. Saitin

Photo by L. Phelps

Contact: juraj@kojs.net

With support of Harvestworks Digital Media Arts Center, Inkub8, Foundation for Emerging Technologies and Arts, Medialogy (Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark), Department ofAesthetics and Communication - Information Science, Aarhus University, Denmark.

Back to Juraj's homepage.

Photos by L. Phelps