Octararrium is an 8-sided room with a single door. The walls are screens on to which 8 separate, vivid dynamic, video murals will be projected. This not virtual reality. This is REAL reality with the interactivity and immediacy that only analog video can produce. Analog video is distinguished from digital video by the absence of a computer processor. There is no digitization of images, and most strikingly, none of the latency imposed while the computer ‘thinks’. In the analog realm, when a source moves, the video image moves with no delay . There has been a recent renaissance in analog video technology concurrent with the recent revival of analog sound synthesis. This updated technology revives the dynamism and immediacy of the ‘old’ analog video equipment that used to be available only to the media corporations and puts it into tools that are within the reach of individual artists. Kevin Harris and his collaborator Chad Eivins are early-adopters of these tools and moved quickly to master them. The results are bright, active colors and forms that combine into constantly-moving, intricate mandalas that emerge and recede in patterns that, once seen, will never recur in exactly the same way. Cameras watch the rooms inhabitants and compose the images , driven by what they see.
This video does not ‘loop’… It spirals and races like a school of dolphins or a flock of starlings. Don’t just stand there!
Another alluring feature of Harris’ & Eivin’s work is that they use these new tools to integrate sound inputs into the controls which makes the entire video environment interactive with musicians. We will present 3 such interactive performances featuring 6 masters of progressive improvised music in electronic/acoustic pairings on 3 Friday nights and in the interest of supporting our mission to keep St. Louis strange and wonderful we’re adding two events to jack reality just a bit off it’s center ; alternate reality pancake master Rob Severson, and Poet/Chef extrordiaire Anna Lum will preside over special Saturday brunch performances to bring an edible dimension to Octararrium’s sensory banquet.
HEARDing Cats wants to express special thanks to RAC for their invaluable part in making this ambitious phenomenon a reality.
Kevin Harris is a longtime advocate and performer of synthesized music and interactive video. His career as a working artist has taken him on tours of the U.S. and Europe over the last two decades. His Floating Labs is adrift, while his talent and abilities have graced Contemporary Art Museum, HEARding Cats Collective and numerous other in-towners . Harris is an accomplished synthesist ranging from self invented instruments to old analog units, and computers for digital music creation.
Chad Eivinsis a visual artist whose 20 year career involves multimedia installations, experimental and documentary films.He currently has an ongoing internet project (Chizmo.tv) which explores the collective interpretation of live performance with CCTV cameras through processes of video synthesis. Born in 1975, he has lived and worked in New York City, Denver and currently resides in St. Louis.
