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Dancing 'Silhouettes' Illuminate This Audio-Visual Performance

Using a needle-covered canvas and an advanced light system, new media studio NONOTAK is re-imagining concert visuals.

Images courtesy of NONOTAK

New media studio NONOTAK is bringing a music performance on tour this year, but audiences shouldn't expect your typical concert experience. The Paris-based team, comprised of artist/illustrator Noemie Shipfer and architect/musician Takami Nakamoto, have been brewing up a new audio-visual performance called Silhouettes, and if it's anything like NONOTAK's past projects, the project will be a full-on sensory spectacle. To get us stoked for the upcoming live shows, the studio has shared a taste of Silhouettes with The Creators Project, above.

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The artists explained over a Skype call that the performance is based on research about the interactions among space, shadow, and light, as well as how these elements affect the creative process. The interdisciplinary backbone is then translated into a live show where the duo will appear in front of a large, square canvas that's covered by hundreds of small aluminum needles. Twelve lamps are hidden behind the canvas, and NONOTAK has created a nuanced music system to make all these pieces interact in an immersive fashion.

Using a DMX controller, NONOTAK can control the movement of the hidden lamps behind the canvas. Simultaneously, the artists will be playing an electric guitar and manipulating the sound through an AXE-FX2 sound processor and Abelton. The experimental audio will then be synchronized with the DMX controller, so as the lamps move, they will also flicker in response to the music's rhythm. The lights, in turn, will beam on to the pin-covered canvas, yielding gorgeous visuals that morph and twist the spatial dimensions of the square. In a way, this is shadow puppetry for the avant-garde—a music performance that eschews animated concert projections in favor of natural light.

NONOTAK will debut Silhouettes this fall, though dates are currently undetermined. To stay updated on the studio's tour, be sure to check out its website here.

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