18/08/2019

MUTEK welcomes the Berlin hexadome - Pieuvre

Alongside the SAT dome and the PY1 pyramid, the MUTEK International Festival of Digital Creativity and Electronic Music is hosting the ISM HEXADOME 360-degree audiovisual installation at  the Institute for Sound & Music in Berlin from 13 August to 2 September at the Museum of Contemporary Art of Montreal (MAC).

Inside a dark room, visitors are invited to settle in the center of six square screens arranged in the shape of a hexagon, so that one is surrounded by a six-sided projection. The projection architecture designed by the multimedia studio Pfadfinderei is equipped with an advanced sound configuration of 52 speakers by Meyer Sound. On the menu, nine immersive art videos created by different artists in order to take advantage of the specificities of the device.

A kind of diplomatic device, the ISM HEXADOME  was on tour in the United States to highlight German-American relations. At the launch on August 13th, the three excerpts presented gave a taste of the possibilities. The first one played with the grain of the image, the second showed images of actors and participants in a more photographic way, while the last one more or less combined the two approaches ... a more or less conclusive introduction leaving us on our hunger.

The Berlin team will probably not regret having made a detour through Montreal and having entrusted a seventh chapter to the local audiokinetic sculptor, Herman Kolgen. In all modesty, this hermit of electronics explained that he saw this installation as a biological instrument or as a fly-eye.

During the creative process of RETINA (23 min), he wondered how memory permeates images that are integrated by the sense of vision and how time alters their perceptions. This is the type of interrogation we have when taking place in the center of the hexagon. How to take full advantage of a 360 degree projection?

Thom Yorke and Darren Aronofsky

At the SAT, the overall perspective is not a problem, since the dome is raised so that if one places oneself on the periphery the inclination of the head is enough to see almost everything. Here, Herman Kolgen manages to turn our eyes away from a single screen, even if the images include details that make you want to take a closer look. Impeccable and fascinating work!

Fans of psychological horror films will have the opportunity to attend the event organized by the New York audiovisual group Little Cinema on August 24th and 31st at 4pm. Shot in an octagonal house, the movie Mother! (2017) by Darren Aronofsky will be adapted to the hexagon.

The film CITY RATS (30 min) is the umpteenth experiment of the singer of Radiohead, Thom Yorke in collaboration with Tarik Barri. He had already participated in the creation of a similar project in the cupola of the Bonnenfantenmuseum in Maastricht, the Netherlands.

Author: René-Maxime Parent

Publication: Pieuvre

Original article available here