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Playing a Photography

Clare Strand x Paco Rojas, Jenna Vergeynst & myself

Nov 4, 2022

Screenshot 2023-10-02 at 19.36_edited.jp

It’s rare for a percussionist to play just a single instrument in a performance, and rarer still for that instrument to be a Thundersheet…
In 'Playing a Photograph', I had that opportunity

The performance was in collaboration with Clare Strand a British photographer who had been working with the kunst academie in Antwerpen. 
Inspired by early forms of remote image transmission, we 'transmitted' an image through improvisational sound; using a predetermined list of sound sources to represent the hue of each pixel of a photograph.


The result was sometimes minimal, sometimes chaotic, and always exciting. For me as performer the piece was an exercise in improvisational communication within limited boundaries. I found it quite surprising how much we were able to interact and communicate while only being able to make sounds dictated strictly by a grid of numbers. It was a very stimulating improvisational environment that was really enjoyable to explore.


What’s next?
For this project, who knows! This is the first time we publicly performed the piece (after recording an experimental version back in February 2022), so we’ll have to see what the future holds! I'd certainly love to get my boiler suit back on and experiment with transmitting some more photographs!

 

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