While the expansiveness of audiovisual (AV) performances within the music and art world has been present for years, the shapeshifting medium hasn’t typically found a consistent stage in the regular festival landscape yet. Maybe it’s because these performances are slightly ambiguous to define: it’s neither a concert show nor a club set. We spoke to Dekmantel, Studio Raito, and artists Oceanic, BSS, object blue and Natalia Podgorska about their venture within the AV landscape, to understand the vision beyond the screen.
An audiovisual (AV) performance is more an experience than a party. It invites a different type of curiosity to a space or a dance floor, encouraging divergent pathways to be explored that transcend one-dimensional perceptions of sound. It’s a way for musicians to visually code a sonic idea by interweaving segments of real and synthetic life that unfold in a viscerally immersive story.
Collaboration in alliance
Festivals like Dekmantel have been developing the infrastructure to make space for a steepening curve of artists who are incorporating a visual component to their musical output. ‘One of the main pillars of our identity is the production, where visual development is at the core of our vision’, announces David Cornelissen, Dekmantel Festival’s Programmer. Whilst the festival’s programming is largely based around music and DJ curation, having a long-standing relationship with production and scenography team Studio Raito has enabled them to create a visual personality which is inherently true to Dekmantel. ‘Right now there seems to be a movement where individual identity is becoming more important than before, where more artists are bringing their own show to give it a personal touch’, notes Studio Raito’s director Colin Schram. Rather than being part of the flowing sonic current of a DJ lineup, AV performances stand out as their own event, allowing the artist to take a step back from centre stage and tell their story through a visual journey.
Dekmantel and Studio Raito work closely with the artists to ensure a collective artistic vision is achieved. ‘Collaboration and open dialogue is super important as we want to embrace independent visual artists but ensure we do not override the identity of the festival which is greatly reinforced by our visual production’, explains Cornelissen. In essence, producing an AV show is not a matter of three separate parties (Dekmantel, Studio Raito, the artists); it’s an interconnected partnership that begins behind the screen. Each AV collaboration is met with a unique concept, approach and set-up to be solved by the promoter, technician, and artists involved. Studio Raito has a certain level of influence over how each AV show runs, as they understand the parameters and challenges of the festival site, meaning a technology relationship unfolds with the artists. ‘We need to ensure we are speaking the same language, if you bring your idea with a good intention and a good vibe, then we all benefit creatively.’
"I want to tell a story where you can viscerally see what you’re listening to"
The environment influences the mindset
Before an audience is transported into the brainchild work of the artist’s, ideation and preparation take place on and off stage.
For some, inspiration takes place on stage. London-based artists object blue and Natalia Podgorska will perform their AV show 'pearl forest', where they predominantly focus on their craft separate from one another before presenting it in front of an audience. In this sense, there is less of a deliberate collaboration, and more of a subconscious symbiosis of creative understanding, which unfolds in a semi-improvised AV output on stage. ‘I believe that existing in similar conditions will affect having similar mindsets’, something Podgorska describes as ‘simultaneous invention theory’ which is the idea that multiple of the same discoveries and ideas are made by different people. By exchanging a symbiotic mindset their audiovisual works kinetically fuse, giving them creative licence to improvise with their performance on stage. ‘We do touch base every now and then showing semi-finished bits of the work to have some understanding of what's going on but realistically it remains a mystery even to us until the final soundchecks.’
For others, inspiration begins off-stage and away from a ‘box’ studio mentality. BSS, a DJ, producer, and sound artist from Amsterdam will debut his AV show ‘VANTA’ at this year’s edition of Dekmantel Festival. He recently spent six months on the top of a mountain off the coast of Spain, disconnecting from the hyper-sensory attention-grabbing influences of city and touring life, to reconnect human and machine. He was also offered the space of cultural arts centre Het Hem during the winter to test ideas for his show. These polarising environments of brutalist military wasteland versus idyllic dream-state peaks have influenced the sonic and visual palette of his anticipated performance. ‘In Het Hem it was so cold I could barely feel anything. I want to have experiences in environments like that so I can get into the inner mind of myself and of the music.’
A different mindset
BSS’ solitary studio environments have injected a fluidity into his AV concept to map the mindset of the artist to the desired behaviour of the audience. ‘Vantablack is the darkest man-made substance to exist. I would love everybody to be in a place where they are unable to look at anything. I want people to shut off their minds and use their imagination.’ BSS is approaching his show from an almost cognitive meditative state, playing with frequencies that are used in meditation practices to maintain audience focus on their inner selves. Yet his research is so expansive he found himself researching the cerebral-sonic affinity towards pop chords and how they impact a person’s emotions, stretching and bending them into a more experimental spirit.
To inspire the listener, the mindset doesn’t always need to be introspective. object blue and Natalia Podgorska’s work plays with spontaneity that differs from blue’s DJ sets. ‘When there are mesmerising visuals, I can take chances and really step back without losing the audience. Their attention is nurtured by the visuals even if the music fades out for a bit’, explains blue. The pair’s ability to work apart then collaborate on stage means that ‘everybody involved, including the artists, hear and see the set for the very first (and the very last) time as it will never be identical even performed a hundred times over.’ This type of approach tunes into a playful and unconstrained discipline.
A different mindset
BSS’ solitary studio environments have injected a fluidity into his AV concept to map the mindset of the artist to the desired behaviour of the audience. ‘Vantablack is the darkest man-made substance to exist. I would love everybody to be in a place where they are unable to look at anything. I want people to shut off their minds and use their imagination.’ BSS is approaching his show from an almost cognitive meditative state, playing with frequencies that are used in meditation practices to maintain audience focus on their inner selves. Yet his research is so expansive he found himself researching the cerebral-sonic affinity towards pop chords and how they impact a person’s emotions, stretching and bending them into a more experimental spirit.
To inspire the listener, the mindset doesn’t always need to be introspective. object blue and Natalia Podgorska’s work plays with spontaneity that differs from blue’s DJ sets. ‘When there are mesmerising visuals, I can take chances and really step back without losing the audience. Their attention is nurtured by the visuals even if the music fades out for a bit’, explains blue. The pair’s ability to work apart then collaborate on stage means that ‘everybody involved, including the artists, hear and see the set for the very first (and the very last) time as it will never be identical even performed a hundred times over.’ This type of approach tunes into a playful and unconstrained discipline.
Multidisciplinary possibilities of AV shows
AV concepts often invite and platform versatile practices and are an opportunity for artists to combine their disciplines under a mutual philosophy. Oceanic, an Amsterdam-based DJ and producer, is working with visual artist Tharim Corrnelisse and dance choreographer Dario Tortorelli to produce an AV interpretation of his album ‘Choral Feeling’ which will premiere at Dekmantel Festival.
Oceanic shares his love for the art of dance due to its acute attention to detail, which has influenced the way he’s approached his AV show. The presence of visceral human movement and connection underpins the work of Choral Feeling which is based on the vocal recordings of thirty friends to emulate the collective feeling of singing together. ‘Voices are a very natural sound so I wanted to reflect that in the visuals, morphing them into a collision of natural organic and digital synthetic worlds.’ Oceanic travelled with Tortorelli and his dance students to a beach near Rotterdam where they filmed the dancers morphing and gliding between the ‘Zandwacht’, a concrete sculpture that represents sand dunes created by collective Observatorium. There’s a symbiotic thread running through ‘Choral Feeling’, from the tiny details of winding bodies in the album artwork, to the end result of performing on Dekmantel’s redesigned ‘The Loop’ stage.
"I hope it stays as craftsmanship and art, and not the digitalisation of an experience"
An artist-tech dialogue
AV shows weave between the artist and the technology as the operator, creating a two-way dialogue of sustain and release. In BSS’ case, the sound and visuals communicate with one another to influence the performance. This is because BSS has built a custom module which visually maps sound from manipulating VCR cables. ‘I want to tell a story where you can viscerally see what you’re listening to.’ With this harmonious technological relationship, he admires the ability to check the visual mapping and adjust the sound according to what the visuals are feeding back, truly democratising the craft.
Oceanic is one of two artists showcasing their AV show on The Loop stage at Dekmantel. The new stage design means the screens will form an almost 360-degree immersive arena which is both an excitement and a challenge for artists working with such colossal pyrotechnics. ‘Visuals can pull you into this world that music already suggests, the visual part can reinforce all those suggestions’, explains Oceanic. ‘It’s a privilege to make use of screens this size.’ So what stories can The Loop intensify?
360° immersions
Studio Raito is the scenography and technical teacher when it comes to Dekmantel festival’s visual apparatus. The studio’s move to work with more independent visual artists is born from a desire to build more of a visual artist community, creating more individuality and diversity on the team. By doing so this ignites new creative dialogues, unlocks limitations to overcome, and expands progressive thinking with the way the visual identity and set-up of the festival are designed.
The Loop Stage’s new 360° club architecture aims to bring a refreshing perspective to its listeners. ‘It’s important to give that energy and interest to the spectators, so they can have different dynamics and experiences.’ In this sense, Studio Raito is building infrastructure for the future, creating an experimental playground for themselves, the artists, and the audience that has the capability to adapt and morph into something that hasn’t been fully understood. ‘The intention is to take the focus away from the stage and the artist so that you lose yourself with the lighting and become sensorily immersed.’
Beyond the screen
The desire to transform The Loop sprouts from past challenges Dekmantel has faced with its purpose, fading away from the festival’s identity and narrative, which is often told through its stage design and curation where each stage is its own universe with its own story to tell.
‘The challenge with The Loop stage we’ve had in previous years is that the other stages have a specific reason for why artists want to play there, they create a story. The Loop stage is for where bigger artists play but beyond this, it doesn’t have a bigger purpose. With more interdisciplinary work going on we are able to adapt this stage into the world of these artists and give it a new sense of belonging within the festival.’
The future of AV performance at Dekmantel Festival is optimistically unclear. The shift towards working with more independent artists and democratising technological conversations is paving the way for a truly collaborative interdisciplinary force. Cornelissen: ‘For AV in the future, we want it to be about adding value to an artist and festival performance, as an experimentation ground and tapping into new boundaries. I hope it stays as craftsmanship and art, and not the digitalisation of an experience.’ That’s the true spirit of Dekmantel: making a home for an artist’s craft.
