In this project I provided an audiovisual bridge between the music of Rotem Haguel (JL Segel) and the visuals of multidisciplinary artist Yasmin Vardi. This involved an in depth iterative process, responding to the different movements in Haguel’s compositions alongside Vardi’s rhythmic and layered footage. Having strong audiovisual material to work with and a defined brief allowed me to find creativity in specificity.
I began by focusing in on Haguel’s musical movements, playing with differing amounts of audiovisual reactivity in relation to video speed and colour. At points the footage flickers in response to the music, at points it runs at a predefined speed (allowing the mind to make rhythmic connections).
As the set begins, I’m manually fading in fragments of the imagery alongside the music, reflecting moments in my past work London Routine. This provided an interesting connection, as I feel that Vardi’s work also describes something of the intensity of life in London. It was a pleasure to consider the theme of place through another artist’s eyes, with the music providing an emotional wash to deepen this experience.
One of the sonic highlights for me was the movement ‘Pythagorean Age Love’ (13:33), experimenting with audio reactive colour in response to the music’s smooth pulse.
A memorable visual moment took place in ‘Is Sequenced Thus’ (21:00), processing zoomed in samples of Vardi’s footage through a high contrast colour scheme, cutting up text and making the once legible images more abstract.
The transitions between movements were a key focus, where the use of a MIDI controller for Resolume came in very handy. This allowed me to make more instinctive and improvised visual movements, where small gestures could make a sudden visual impact. Sketching as a way of mapping the MIDI controller was an important part of the process. When we returned to Vardi’s original footage around 27:00, I was able to improvise to a greater extent thanks to this setup, blending fragments of past movements. The piece closes with a sense of circularity, reflecting its opening fragmentation.