Theatre

Espen Sommer Eide (@materialvision), a composer based out of Bergen, Norway, has an unusual approach to musical art. By using sound as “both method and medium,” Espen works to break down the artificial divide between audio and visual representations and tools.

The hard work, dedication, and collaboration of 45 performers from the London metropolitan area culminated in four performances of the stage production Hyper. Hyper had multiple purposes: to provide an evening of entertainment and culture for audiences and to showcase the artistic and musical work of the performers, all of whom have learning disabilities. A highlight of the show was a dance piece in which performers painted projected imagery with their body movements, using skeletal tracking and graphics technology that included Vuo.

“J’utilise la lumière et l’image comme matières premières dans mon travail de recherche et de création.” (“I use light and image as raw materials in my work of research and creation.”) This is how Xavier Boyaud — a self-taught visual artist, lighting designer, scenographer, and videographer — describes his work. Vuo is one of the tools that Xavier uses to sculpt light and image.

Rallentando is an interactive installation that uses Vuo to invoke a multi-sensory virtual forest. Using a combination of images, sounds, and interactive performance, “the audience experiences a gradual slackening of tempo, leaving behind the distractions of contemporary urban life.”

Rallentando was created by Gwenyth Dobie, with William Mackwood (@wmackwood) leading the technical integration. Gwenyth and William, co-artistic directors of Out of the Box Productions, recently installed Rallentando at Hub14 in Toronto.

The play “The Floor: Shopping Rolls Camouflaged” is a foray into a surreal world of gravity-defying motion. By turns funny, poignant, and exuberant, the performance blends the human with the technological. Vuo plays a major role in this performance written and directed by Teo Dumski.