Friday night at Optronica saw VJ veterans a href=”https://www.shift.jp.org/en/archives/2003/04/addictive_tv.html”>Addictive TV take on the IMAX with their film remix performance, a hypnotic visual mash-up of films including City of God Amélie and Get Carter and a cast of thousands. Fast-paced and furious, the duo had the audience riveted with a barrage of memorable scenes, all cut to a booming house soundtrack and infused with hilarious soundbytes from the films.

Addictive TV

This was followed by cinematic luminary Peter Greenaway, who showed off his new live cinema performace, the Tulse Luper ‘stories’, an hour-long show about Uranium (yes, the radioactive substance), and a man’s journey with it. This was depicted by showing the contents of exactly 92 suitcases containing an odd assortment of objects, from ink, blood and a rotting corpse, to pairs of womens underwear.

Peter Greenaway

True to form, Greenaway didn’t give too much away in the form of narrative or a coherent meaning, but as usual, the imagery was beautifully rich. What was especially wonderful was the interactive device he used, a touch screen interface which he slid his fingers over to trigger the visuals, departing from the familiar performance-behind-laptop scenario.

Reactable

Over in the smaller theatre, another live presentation was taking place that would be a shame not to mention – ‘Reactable’, by the Barcelona-based Music Technology Group. Word has it that the legendary Bob Moog had a hand in this piece, although it’s just as plausible to imagine Captain Kirk and Spock playing with it on board the Starship Enterprise. Transparent plastic shapes were shifted around a circular back-lit table, each one triggering a sound relative to its position in relation to other shapes, and eminating a light as they were placed on the surface. It’s got to be one of the most intriguing interactive AV experiments ever undertaken, as a kind of futuristic music-machine which has implications for how we can interact with sound and light simultaneously. And more importantly, it succeeded as a performative piece, because the audience could easily recognise how the sounds were being generated.

‘Reactable’ was performed at various times throughout the festival at the Optronica Lounge, not far from the screening cinema. It provided a relaxed space for visitors to hnag about and experience a range of interactive installations with a handful of couches and beanbags thrown in for comfort.