Laser Show 

(2007) 

by Robin Fox describes, in three-dimensional visual space, the geometry of sound. Enveloping the audience in synchronous sound and light information, the experience resembles a synaesthetic experience.

The same electricity generated to move the speaker cones is sent simultaneously to high-speed motors that deflect the laser light on an x/y axis converting sonic vibration into light movement.

The laser-based performance is an extension of previous work undertaken using Cathode Ray Oscilloscopes to create audio-visual equivalence. These are documented on the DVD backscatter (included with this document). Documentation of the laser performance is incredibly difficult, it really has to be experienced and filmed versions have proven to be inadequate for promotional purposes. Therefore, there is no laser footage included in this package. Recent performances have taken place across Australia, Japan and Europe.

 

Source: Robin Fox

 

 

Robin Fox’s Rave-A-Licious laser performance projects are rarer in the 21st century than the nineties warehouses would’ve had us believe. Undoubtedly all roads in this terrain eventually lead to 1 x Robin Fox, a Melbourne based electronica / noise / experimental music performer who has gradually shifted his soundmaking to become servants of a giant green laser. In practice this means he tweaks specific frequencies and patterns onstage with a laptop, which in turn cause a very responsive laser to carve out surprisingly dimensional shapes in a cloud of smoke and inevitably leaves audience jaws on the ground for the duration of his show. Very much something that needs to be experienced more than described, but is also well documented online.

 

Source: Skynoise

 

 

Laser Show, laser, Live Visuals

Reading

The Art of Projectionism (2007) by Frederick Baker (in German) sets out the principles behind his use of projectors in the film making process. He defines a projectionist school of filmmaking and media art. In this publication he also presented Ambient film, a surround experience that can be shown in specially developed cinemas. (Wikipedia)

Synesthesia: A Union of the Senses (2002) by Richard E. Cytowic disposes of earlier criticisms that the phenomenon cannot be real, demonstrating that it is indeed brain-based. Following a historical introduction, Cytowic lays out the phenomenology of synesthesia in detail and gives criteria for clinical diagnosis and an objective test of genuineness. (MIT Press)

 

SEE ALSO

Expanded Cinema (1970) - In a brilliant and far-ranging study, Gene Youngblood traces the evolution of cinematic language to the end of fiction, drama, and realism. New technological extensions of the medium have become necessary. Thus he concentrates on the advanced image-making technologies of computer films, television experiments, laser movies, and multiple-projection environments. Outstanding works in each field are analyzed in detail. Methods of production are meticulously described, including interviews with artists and technologists. (John Coulthart)

Mutations (1972) by Lillian Schwartz, who is an early pioneer in the use of the computer in the Arts and was a consultant at the AT&T Bell Laboratories. Mutations is based on computer images, laser beams diffracted in plastics, and crystal growth in polarized light. The film features a stunning soundtrack by Jean-Claude Risset. (Olsen)

Edwin van der Heide (1970) is a Dutch artist and researcher in the field of sound, space and interaction. He extends the terms composition and musical language into spatial, interactive and interdisciplinary directions. His work comprises installations, performances and environments. The audience is placed in the middle of the work and challenged to actively explore, interact and relate themselves to the work. (Edwin van der Heide)

Kurt Laurenz Theinert (*1963), photographer and light artist, concentrates in his work on visual experiences that do not refer, as images, to anything. On the contrary, he is striving for an abstract, reductiv aesthetic that has ultimately led him – through a wish for more dematerialisation – from photography to light as a medium. With the aid of software developers Roland Blach and Philipp Rahlenbeck, he has also created an image instrument (Visual Piano) on a MIDI-keyboard basis, that allows him to translate his artistic intentions into live performances while configuring time with light. (Kurt Laurenz Theinert)

LSP - alveole 14 (2007) by Edwin van der Heide is a research trajectory exploring compositional relationships between sound, space, light and color. Lissajous figures form the starting point for the developed relations between sound and visual shape. By combining laser light and fog it becomes possible to project in space, instead of on a surface. (Edwin van der Heide)