SYNTHETIC FOREST at Coaxial

October 31, 2023

During the last week of October, Andrei and I did an artist residency at Coaxial Arts in Los Angeles as Phase Shift Collective. During our our time there, we created an installation/environment which also served as our stage and setup for a live performance, titled Synthetic Forest.

The concept was inspired by the time we spent camping in national forests during our five-month road trip across the US. Throughout our travels, we made video and sound recordings in nature, which we sampled and remixed in the performance. We wanted to create an environment which combined materials from the natural landscape with the synthetic elements of our electronic sound and video processing techniques. In our installation, we used real and synthetic plants and moss, chalk on the floor, overhead projectors, CRT screens, and a fog machine.

Andrei performed live video using a combination of liquid light show techniques, camera feedback, footage from our walks in the forest, and gravity_waaaves, a video processor/frame buffer device they created.

I performed quadraphonic sound with field recording samples, a foley box containing dried leaves, bells, a kalimba and an AM radio, synths, and granular and spatial processing. It was my first time performing music in quad, so it was exciting to create an immersive sonic landscape with Coaxial's multichannel speaker setup.

I've known about Coaxial for a long time, and it was really cool to finally get to be there in person. Many thanks to KA, Chloe, Eva, and Brock for their help and hospitality. We look forward to visiting again in the future!

Here is a recording of our performance: