LIPPtv: Glowing With Fire with OCTONOMY x nic.cab

Here is the full video documentation of Glowing With Fire, an audio-visual projection mapped performance in the times of COVID-19.

This performance was created for LIPP.tv, the final performance project of the Live Image Processing and Performance (LIPP) class at NYU’s ITP. LIPPtv is a creative response to how code, video, networks, and art can be used to create a new experience in live performance. Each student has created their own short TV show influenced by video art, experimental animation, public access TV and more. This entire event was created remotely and is performed remotely, with students creating the website, commercials, music, and animations.

The original stream took place on Twitch on May 11th, 2020.
Please watch the full recorded program here: https://lipp.tv/

---

Development

For LIPPtv, I am collaborating with my roommate Heidi Lorenz, also known by her project name OCTONOMY. She will be providing the audio, and I will be using a combination of Max and madMapper to projection map our backyard. This pre-recorded performance will also be shown with Cultivated Sound, a hybrid label and collective.

Here is a skeletal version of the track, which she is still working on. We discussed a water element where she will pour water into a bowl with contact mics and distort it.

The first samples were very different from this.

Here is my are.na link for some inspiration / references.

Before hearing the track go towards its new direction, I thought I could incorporate some experiments I was working on for Light & Interactivity - my gesture controlled DMX moving head lights, that also has a particle system visualization within TouchDesigner.

I knew that securing an expensive short-throw projector that doesn’t belong to me (thanks ER) and cantilevering it off the edge of a fire escape would be a huge source of anxiety…

After all this, the angle was still not at an ideal location. Back to fabricating a new attachment and remapping the layout…

References

• Anna Bacheva’s VJ GUI

• Connecting a MIDI controller

HUMAN NATURE, Performance 1

I spent the last three weeks listening to Sevdaliza’s “Human Nature” to become as intimate as possible with the piercing shrills and elongated spaces of the song. I tried to picture what the performance might look like when mapped to the song - shown on the right is my initial thought process of how I might abstract my video banks with MaxMSPJitter.

https://github.com/niccab/LIPP/blob/master/HUMANNATURE_wOffset_bri.maxpat

For the live performance, I knew I wanted to use the Novation Launch Control XL MIDI controller pad. For a quick tutorial, I referenced this video.

I also explored jit.gl.mesh: https://cycling74.com/tutorials/my-favorite-object-jit%C2%B7gl%C2%B7mesh-1

Video Block

Double-click here to add a video by URL or embed code. Learn more

Video Playback System

I began to work on my video playback system by further exploring the technique discussed in class where the frame is updated every 2 seconds, resulting in a delayed color trail. I wanted to see how my sample bank of nature videos would look with this effect.

The next step for me was to decide on a few songs that would complement this mood of rustling dead flora and sleepy koi. For now, I feel my nature videos can start a relationship with the song “Human Nature” by Sevdaliza.

Sevdaliza provides rich resonating vocals that exist in this ever-elongating space, as if you’re slowly twisting and sinking willingly into the ocean depths. The mood is somber and contemplative with cinematic instrumentals.

In what ways can I achieve such decadent expansion with Max?

I see this manifesting in slow cross fading videos, bits and pieces creeping into the frame. I implemented the jit.xfade object, and watched my on board GPU struggle to keep up with a steady frame rate.

I feel like the song excretes tears of gold, dripping abundantly on luscious leaves. I want to be able to zoom slowly in and out of videos in particular spots of the frame as if the viewer is grabbing the scenery in their own hands. I referenced this forum thread for help with zooming in and out with sound.

There are specific lyrics that pinch and screech in the second verse, and I imagine climaxes of white, but somehow with distinguishable elements.

Serendipitous Imagery

This week, we were tasked with collecting visual scenes that exemplify textures, colors, shapes rather than focusing on narrative or linear storytelling. I oftentimes record video portraits when a particular scene captivates me.

Here is a link to a shared album of selected videos, with some of my highlights uploaded below.

A temperate drizzle breaks apart the cloudy masked reflection, with sleepy koi drifting into branches

Afternoon light seeping through the window of my father’s friend’s bathroom.

A mushroom cloud forming above Mount Fuji’s peak, a sign of impending rain for the week.

Dried flora within the clouds of Hakone.