:10.2003 Dyad http://www.node.net/dyad
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
With their project DYAD, jasch and deKam explore the symbiotic relationship between sound and image in a live, improvisational context. Sonic and visual expressions are based on a unified logical structure, their processes influencing each other through a network link, a pair of vectors juxtaposed.

Constant exchange between the performers and their software agents characterize the presence and interaction as much in the digital domain as in the physical + gestural space. Their open, networked system stimulates flexiblity and surprise as key elements of each real-time performance.

DYAD played at Sonarama 2003 on Thursday 12th of June ::
-> SonarReport :: Dyad live @ Sonarama, Sónar 2003


Interview of Dyad for SonarOnline

- You have been working on a DVD together (available at the Dyad website). How do you translate your realtime work to the static medium of the DVD?

deKam :: We decided on a structure that would be based on the documentation of live recording, but not limited to a single concert - which often tends to feel 'rehearsed' - something we didn't want to manifest on the dvd.
After Sónar, we did a 6 city North American tour and recorded every single show. From these live recordings (approximately 7 hours) we selected continuous blocks anywhere from 3 to 23 minutes. Each excerpt is a chapter on the DVD... it is otherwise, unedited.

jasch :: We treat the DVD as a support for a strictly documentary approach. Realtime audiovisual work needs the freshness of the moment, it's difficult to translate that into a static form. We feel that leaving the material in it's raw state together with information about the shows it originated in can give the most accurate impression. Apart from selecting extracts we feel are relevant there's no editing of the material.


- You are both artist-programmers. what is the relation between programming & artistic creation? Is it just a question of tools or does it go further?

deKam :: When I am writing my own software, it's a bit like I am building building my alter-ego... turning my aesthetic decisions into an instrument. The more idiosyncratic the project is, the more of 'me' goes into software. This year for DYAD, I wrote software that freed me from thinking of the laptop as the instrument, but instead allowed me to focus on the camera, lighting and most importantly, jasch. We have both experimented a lot with autonomous processes and generative design, which I think is reflected in this idea of encoding aesthetics into software. We have also worked alot with the sharing of data between our softwares. Over time we've learned generative data sharing, while useful, is no substitute for good human communication, so now we are making software that allow the performance to be more intuitive rather than technical.

jasch :: In a way they are the same. as with any craft, the level of skill influences the discrepancy between intuition and execution. Ultimately the tools don't matter, it's how naturally they are used what matters. I feel we both have experimented and gathered experience which lets us build our visions in code, with a specific aesthetic expression in mind. The software is as much part of the creation as the material generated through it.


- Realtime A/V is a relatively new field and yet with its roots in various avantgarde traditions. Is there anyone else doing realtime A/V at the moment that you like/admire? Who would you consider your historic ancestors, if any?

deKam :: I am a big fan of The Light Surgeons. They really put a lot of craft into weaving multi channel narratives within a very coherent and beautiful set design. Benton C. Bainbridge was an inspiration to me after I saw him play with The Poool in the mid-nineties, working with elaborate miniature sets, lighting and live cameras. I admire NAOISM for their superb videography, original music and genre-crossing sensibilities. My local heroes are LMNOPF... they have more fun on stage than anyone I have ever seen.

jasch :: The futurists. abstract cinema. Cage, Stockhausen, Nam June Paik, Brian Eno. The list is long and well known. I feel we are at a crossroads in the fusion of techologies, allowing expression in several media, but aestetically the references are all there in the 'traditional' arts.
View site