The interactive, real-time immersive installation of KIMA: The Wheel commissioned for the Curtain Call project at the Roundhouse took place during the Roundhouse’s 50th Jubilee. Kima ‘The Wheel’ invited audience to create and compose using own voice, to experience sound in its visual and spatial forms and as alternative communication tool. The audience voices were be experienced as an ever-changing sound wave, moving through the 360 canvas of Ron Arad’s Curtain Call.
Using machine learning algorithms, sound was interpreted as an intelligible, nuanced and highly responsive visual form across six different worlds of representation. Inspired by the space and original poetry, the choir created unique sonic worlds echoing different states of the mind. The idea of stage, of duality between performer and audience was dissolved as performers play among the audience, inviting them to step into these sonic worlds.
Participants were invited to visually discover characteristics of the sounds they create. Using immediate visual cues as a graphic score, the audience weaves its own music into the overall fabric of the performance. The performance was based on a poem ‘Wheel’, written by Evgenia Emets especially for the occasion.
Six performers invited the audience with an improvised poetry composition to explore their own voice, opening the floor to visually engage with sound. More than 200 guests participated in the experience. Alain Renaud’s spatial sound design was diffused in the round, adding a layer of sonic architecture to the performance.
Credits: Evgenia Emets, Oliver Gingrich, Alain Renaud, Sean Soraghan, Dario Villanueva Ablanedo, Katerina Loschinina, Paulo Ricca.
Performers: Evgenia Emets, Nao Masuda, Rugilė Girdzijauskaitė, Ben Zucker, Mārtiņš Baumanis, Uran Apak
Poetry: Evgenia Emets
Sound arrangement: Ben Zucker / Nao Masuda
ANALEMA GROUP 