DAM TYPO! :: Tara Rynders & Maximilan Shiffman

20110325

"In 'Typo', Tara and Max use text to generate movement, imagery and sound. 'Typo' brings together several disciplines in a dynamic environment.  Text drives the performance, controlling video, sound art, and coreography.  While 'Typo' is a technological performance rooted in its time, Tara and Max push the limits of text using it to communicate on numerous levels."

 

Golan's inadvertent contribution

Tara and Max were given the opportunity to perform alongside the Blink! exhibit this past Friday.  This is such an honor to be invited to help out and document, and I was very proud of Max and Tara's performances.  Max performed music and text that was both planned a improvised based on text messages from the audience.
Tara was able to interact with both a Jitter patch (framesub), and an installation by Golan Levin.  This interactive projection creates noise and colored shapes as you cast shadows on the screen.  The shapes are created by closed spaces, like if you made a circle with your thumb and forefinger, for example.  This is a very fun part of Blink! and was a cool addition to the  performance.

Ok, so there's a really awesome video at the end here, but you're only allowed to watch it if you read the whole article :)

Tara interacting with her projection

When considering projectors, the DAM (Libeskind) has incredible angular walls that span great distances.  This creates for some very interesting projection surfaces.  We were able to take advantage of the angles (and our short cables) by projecting Tara's live feed at an extreme angle that looked aesthetically pleasing with the architecture.  We were able to square Max's projection for the text portion, so there was a variety in our throws.




Max makes some great music, and it is for this performance, he made a very cool control/instrument/thing that he hung around his neck.  On it he had his MIDI controller, a keyboard (remember, this was text based...) and and iPhone to receive the text messages the audience sent in.  His text input would display it on the screen and change the color and noise it produced.  He also had control of the font and size.  Max made an incredible dynamic range of music and noise that kept the audience enthralled.  He is also a fearless performer and played while standing on 'bucket stilts' and wearing steampunk goggles.

TYPO at the DAM

• Be sure to check out Blink!  at the DAM, it only runs through May 1st (my birthday :).  
• Plus the first Saturday of each month is free for everyone!  
• Also on April 1st there will be a Noisefold show at the DAM as well (see this post about the last time I saw them), be sure to check that one out, it will be AWESOME.

And now... the amazing video of the performance!