The Optronica Festival

I cannot stretch my holiday and what a pity to miss Optronica. See a report from Shift. Here are some photo of what I had been looking so forward to, EBN Emergency Broadcast Network on top, Peter Greenaway on the middle. Reactive table follows.They all looked fabulous..
some juice: "....This was followed by cinematic luminary Peter Greenaway, who showed off his new live cinema performace, the Tulse Luper ‘stories’, an hour-long show about Uranium (yes, the radioactive substance), and a man’s journey with it. This was depicted by showing the contents of exactly 92 suitcases containing an odd assortment of objects, from ink, blood and a rotting corpse, to pairs of womens underwear. True to form, Greenaway didn’t give too much away in the form of narrative or a coherent meaning, but as usual, the imagery was beautifully rich. What was especially wonderful was the interactive device he used, a touch screen interface which he slid his fingers over to trigger the visuals, departing from the familiar performance-behind-laptop scenario.

Over in the smaller theatre, another live presentation was taking place that would be a shame not to mention – ‘Reactable’, by the Barcelona-based Music Technology Group. Word has it that the legendary Bob Moog had a hand in this piece, although it’s just as plausible to imagine Captain Kirk and Spock playing with it on board the Starship Enterprise. Transparent plastic shapes were shifted around a circular back-lit table, each one triggering a sound relative to its position in relation to other shapes, and eminating a light as they were placed on the surface. It’s got to be one of the most intriguing interactive AV experiments ever undertaken, as a kind of futuristic music-machine which has implications for how we can interact with sound and light simultaneously. And more importantly, it succeeded as a performative piece, because the audience could easily recognise how the sounds were being generated.

‘Reactable’ was performed at various times throughout the festival at the Optronica Lounge, not far from the screening cinema. It provided a relaxed space for visitors to hnag about and experience a range of interactive installations with a handful of couches and beanbags thrown in for comfort. ,,,

...The night’s performers included techno pioneer Speedy J and US collaborator and film-maker Scott Pagano, a live set from veterans Emergency Broadcast Network, and a selection of local DJs and VJs. It was reportedly a real gathering of London’s AV scene, along with a healthy handful of European and international AV artists, and a rare occurance in what is a relatively small scene...."