Synergy and Noreum Machi tour

Supersense Melbourne tech run

On tour with Synergy Percussion and Korean shamanic drumming group Noreum Machi in a two year collaborative project, Earth Cry.  A three-screen setup using Resolume, and a mass of reconstituted animism videos I made in the Australian bush. A third of the material was in 4K panorama mapped onto three HD outputs and the rest were HD central images with distorted peripheral material projected onto the side screens.  Often in international collaborations there isn't enough time to evolve one's practice very far into the other culture, (I wasn't part of the two year development and travel to Korea) though some people mentioned the watery animations from the Daintree reminded them of other countries. The translation of animism in my work to the traditional shamanic understanding in Korean drumming was a large assumption to make in a short amount of time (only 4 days rehearsal in Sydney with Noreum Machi, but 4 weeks of preparation remotely).  I worked mainly on the principle that shamanic music is meant to alter the state of mind through complex rhythms. 

Working with accomplished musicians such as Synergy meant that each performance had to be partially improvised. Classical musicians can build on their known repertoire - very different to devised contemporary performance work and I was very dependent on months of work made previously on artist residencies.  It was good to find a place for this material and to showcase the Australian environment in this intercultural context. 

TOUR: August 5th-15th at Arts Centre Melbourne (Supersense Festival), Bathurst Memorial Arts Centre, Canberra and Sydney City Recital Hall.
Video samples (at 2.05)
http://www.synergypercussion.com/synergy/performance.aspx
http://www.noreummachi.com/newkorean/index.html