In The Flow
"In The Flow" is an innovative and groundbreaking performance art project that merges the worlds of live concert, environmental and human interconnectedness, and audience engagement. This immersive experience explores the flows of water on our planet and the impact of oceanic currents on our planet's climate. Through a unique combination of live showcase, interactive technology, storytelling and the shared creativity of the audience, "In The Flow" aims to captivate and spark conversations while fostering a deeper connection between interdisciplinary art, nature, and human emotion.
Music and concept by She's Excited!, XR Coding by /p, AR visuals "Current" by Anke Schiemann.
AN INTERACTIVE
MIXED REALITY EXPERIENCE
The heart of "In The Flow" lies in its interactive and immersive nature. The audience plays a pivotal role in shaping the live performance. Through a multiplayer Augmented Reality (AR) app called ARpoise (all accessible, for Android and iOS smartphones) and intuitively usable MIDI controllers, the audience becomes an important part of the artistic process. Everyone is invited to create soundscapes and melodies alongside the performance artist, merging their individual current mood into a harmonious whole. This dynamic collaboration results in a one-of-a-kind multi-sensorial experience that unfolds in real-time.
Above is the video of a first test with an audience member without musical education that has never had heard this song before participating in the performance. The audience touches the Augmented Reality 3D objects (in this case: shells) on their smartphones in the ARpoise app and hence trigger audio samples (in this case synth samples and field recordings). Without the audience, you would only hear drums, bass and vocals. Before this experiment, I did not tell the audience member when to trigger what, it is completely their choice, no mistakes are possible. The app can used by several people at the same time.
I also incorporated Playtronica's Playtron midi controller to trigger the sound of the ocean in the beginning, which can be done by an audience member by placing their hands into the bowls of water. And I used Playtronica's Touch Me midi controller: I will "play" the solo synths after each chorus with an audience member (works via touch) and not just by myself.
AN IMMERSIVE SONIC JOURNEY
Despite being a cutting-edge set-up, the experience is easily accessible, intuitive and self-explanatory and suited for people of all ages – from children to the elderly. The soundscapes are composed in such a way that there can be no mistakes: No matter when which 3D-object is touched on the smartphone displays (meaning which audio sample is triggered) or which physical conductive object or midi controller is touched, the soundscape always works out harmonically. During the showcase, the audience becomes a unique performer of this very moment, because the created sound layers will always sound slightly different – depending on the people being in the room, depending on which sound is triggered when.
Above is the brief explanatory video about how the interactive showcase is working: The framework of each song consists of drums, bass and vocals. This is what the performer brings to the stage. All the other sounds are created live in the moment by audience members – in this case: synths sounds and field recordings of rain and thunder. The song will thus never sound exactly the same, because the audience is free to trigger any of the samples whenever they want to trigger it. For this song, the audience is invited to trigger the audio samples via Playtronica's Playtron midi controller. It can be easily and intuitively used by touch.
The Playtron midi controller is based on effectively creating a circuit between the device and organic / metallic materials, with the human body closing the circuit. It’s connected to a computer so when you touch the conductive materials (in this case: the mushrooms) the circuit is closed, and a specified audio sample is played. The Playtron device can be used by several people at the same time.
The Artists
The interactive Mixed Media event "In The Flow" was created by the artists
She's Excited!, /p and Anke Schiemann.
