Missed Ta-ku's Set at VIVID? Hear it Beamed Through These 3D-Printed Sonic Clouds

Placed on the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House for VIVID 2016, three Sound Cell installations are currently treating festival-goers to an immersive music and arts experience programmed by Perth producer Ta-ku with accompanying visuals by Sam Price. Last week, the 3D-printed Cells brought music from Vivid LIVE inside the Sydney Opera House to the masses, broadcasting Ta-ku and Wafia’s show out into the surrounding forecourt for everyone to enjoy. Now, they’re playing audio and visuals from that show every day until the festival ends on June 18.

Speaking to The Creators Project, visual animator Sam Price explains how the Sound Cells project came together. The Sydney Opera House and Intel had an idea to bring what happens inside the Opera House outside using Intel’s latest technology, known as Real Sense. As part of this an idea was born to create tree like installations on the Forecourt that could share Vivid LIVE artist Ta-ku’s story through his music and Sam’s visual animations. Sam’s role was all about matching art to music using visual cues from Ta-ku and Wafia. “They were quite specific about explaining the details of the songs and the characters they were trying to portray,” he tells us.

Intel used its Real Sense technology to scan both Ta-ku and Wafia’s faces in 3D to bring the song 'Meet In The Middle' to life. Both musicians share “a strong sense of characters and stories” which meant that the process of creating visuals was very concept based. Price wanted his visuals to reflect Wafia and Ta-ku’s two distinct personalities as communicated through their music. “Ta-ku’s visuals were more natural and a bit more gentle, so I used images of flowers,” he says. “Wafia’s character was a bit tougher, so copper and metal came to represent her in the artwork.”

Both hailing from Perth, Price has known Ta-ku for years. They started their careers together, both releasing music on the same small local label. “As I evolved to work in the visual medium, he became the international sensation he is today,” Price says. “But we stayed in touch through playing basketball and chatting about what we were doing. It was a natural evolution from being friends to working together, we never had to push it. It just made sense.”

Matching audio to visuals, Price says, is a smooth process. “It’s super natural for me, and I come from a music background so music is close to my number one passion—or at least on the same level as my visual work.”

“Of course, I find it difficult to make art for my own music, but for other people’s music it’s quite natural and easy. Producing music is by far the most streamlined and easy medium, so making visuals for music feels organic like a logical next step. You don’t need a brief or script necessarily, you can experiment and take it where you feel it needs to go.”

VIVID Sydney continues until June 18. You can find out more and view the program here.

Related:

Inside The Light Installations Illuminating Sydney for VIVID 2016

This VIVID Light Installation Simulates a Futuristic Volcanic Eruption

This 3D-Printed VIVID Installation Brings Music from Inside the Sydney Opera House to the Masses