Finally, after having postponed it due to COVID 19 restrictions, we were able to do the residency in the circus tent “La Vela” in L’ Estruch Fàbrica de creación in Sabadell, which was mainly focused on lighting, as for the first time we had access to a space with the necessary equipment to play and test “in situ” some of the ideas raised in meetings of the collective. The residency at the Vela allowed us to develop the design of some of the scenes with conventional lighting, we explored the ambiences or atmospheres of some of the scenes and their transitions and we experimented with lighting that did not reveal some technical aspects of movements and materials in the scene in order to achieve moments of magic or what is currently known as “the new magic”. During the residency in the circus tent in L’Estruch we had the presence of Feliciano García Zechín as guest musician since Jan Benz, the musician and designer of the Picaderø could not travel from Germany to Spain for reasons related to COVID 19.

In terms of sound, this initially meant creating opportunities for the broadest possible coverage of input. In order to also create data input for light, the decision was made to use an experimental approach instead of classic microfoning with radio links.

In the first approach, an interactive concept was planned that should enable the exchange between performer and sound artist without being restrictive. Technically, this led to the idea of ​​capturing all movements and vibrations of the structure as far as possible and making them available to the sound artist as raw material from which he can then shape the music / sound. The desired real-time transmission should enable direct interaction between the artists.

Residence of Creation / July 19 to August 2020

Just as special and intimate as the space that KONVENT made available with its inmates and opportunities for the project, was also the time spent together there. The team, finally defined and united for the first time, was able to get closer to holism and the willingness to experiment and explore new limits: weaknesses and strengths of the selected platforms and techniques, of exchange and connections as well as the limitations in space and emotional connection, closeness and distance could be experienced and tried out for the first time. Unimagined possibilities, opportunities and barriers opened up for the first time and could be understood, seen, interpreted and worked on. The residency in “KONVENT” represents an essential and important step in the development of “PICADERO” and thus marks a technical and emotional milestone in the goal-oriented background work of the project. Not only the Sound Installation – the spinning top –  but also a variation of all the other involved, acting and added elements were given the opportunity to interact with each other for the first time and gave space to provide a glimpse of future horizons. A comprehensive inventory of the intensive work, done by the consultants in the field of sound and light development, was possible and could be conveyed holistically for the first time.  

Photographer: @Maidalanas

In October 2020 a technical research residency took place in “Bolivianow” in Barcelona. Stage, Sound and Light Designers came together to revise, expand and update the technology used within the Structure/Soundinstallation. Various construction sites were touched and worked on within this residency. The results of this process paved a freer and more open way to interpret data and to integrate new technology.

This offered the opportunity to carry out initial experiments with the hybrid solution developed in the meantime, which enables the simultaneous real-time transmission of audio signals via special radio links as well as the transmission of data resulting from the direct analysis of the resonances and vibrations of the structure in the computer modules via the wireless network. For this purpose, the analysis software was developed at this point and the provision of the data via the network was tested, which can be used by sound and light artists for modulation and manipulation. The data that emerged from the analysis of the frequency and intensity of the contact microphones were made available in the OSC protocol in order to enable the most uncomplicated and varied use possible. The flexibility of this protocol also enables the future transmission of additional sensor data in the same format.

Residencia de investigación Febrero 2020

Residencia íntima experimentando desnudar la TU ∏

Tiempo · Espacio · Compás · Underground · Superficie · The top

Participación en el Festival Exploding · Fabra i Coats, Fàbrica de Creació· Sharing part of our research of the last months !!

El ser humano ha viajado a otros mundos a través de la historia, conquistas, masacres, devastaciones , mezclas culturales impuestas y/o compartidas

The second and third residence, with larger parts of the growing team and at the same time the first residence together with Joan Lavandeira (light designer; also former Team member of the IMAGA project), took place in Barcelona in October and November 2019 (Fàbrica de creació Fabra i Coats). Various smaller stations and objects were included for the first time. Other decentralized objects were integrated with the same demands and requirements that should also apply to the sound installation (interactivity, the provision of data signals for modulation for light and sound, the possibility of being able to react freely to impulses and interaction and to influence each other) and worked intensively with one another. As part of a presentation for the “Seismes” event, new horizons were sounded out and explored. While some of the sound designers in Hamburg worked intensively on the implementation of ideas, another part was on site and explored the possibilities of physically interacting with the performers on the stage/Sound Installation. For the first time musicians and performers came into contact as people on the mobile stage / Sound Installation while the modulation was controlled by automation and Intuitive AI. This created a new – more intimate – dimension which should be expanded further in the future.

Technically, the first experiments with the prototypes of the wireless modules were carried out at this point. In particular, it was necessary to test the bandwidth of the transmission as well as to check the compatibility between the different platforms and to develop solutions for related problems.