Impossible Roller Coaster
hhiiddenn vvoorrttiicceess
Piano, electronics, 5 Soundbrenner watches, 2 strobe lights, video
15:00
2021
Created for Zubin Kanga as part of the Cyborg Soloists project
About
Simulated roller coaster velocities become metronomic pulsations passing through wireless connections to small vibrating watches cueing a pianist to press keys that hit hammers on strings… Swirling emotional currents snake through our subconscious, carrying the traces of voices, sometimes whispered, often thunderous: SOPHIE, Maurice Ravel and Anri Sala. Thank you to my collaborators: Zubin Kanga, Soundbrenner, holly+, Justin Focus, Jasper Sutherland and Tyler Marghetis.
More Info
blog post here: https://www.cyborgsoloists.com/news/roller-coaster-resonance
lecture here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRlbWIfqBjA
Performances
Acknowledgements
hhiiddeenn vvoorrttiiccess was created as part of the Cyborg Soloists project, in partnership with Soundbrenner.
Steel Becomes Silk, Gravity Recast
Living Score
Juliet Fraser, simulated roller coasters, video, electronic sound
15:00
2020
Created for Juliet Fraser
About
This is a roller coaster. It looms, it arches, it curls and twists…
This is a roller coaster project by multidisciplinary artist Luke Nickel and soprano Juliet Fraser, a 15-minute performance combining voice and simulated roller coasters commissioned by Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival for performance in November 2021. In this collaborative piece, Juliet and Luke transform roller coasters into sound through a process of simulated gravitational witchcraft.
The piece is built through a process of conversation and experimentation. Juliet has created a roller coaster in her mind, and has sung its tracks, its speed, its height and its G-force. Luke has been constructing simulated roller coasters in a digital space, and has collaborated with A.I. to write a witchy spell. Nothing is notated. The emerging piece has a living score, embodied in the mind and the muscle memory.
In the performance, Juliet and Luke face each other on stage. Juliet sings an unearthly, timeless music born of crests, hills and loops. From a laptop, Luke creates a mesmerising digital landscape of writhing simulated roller coasters that are projected beyond the performers for all to see. A strange incantation — co-written with an artificial intelligence module (GPT-2) — describes a roller coaster, gives voice to the roller coaster, transforms itself and the listener into a roller coaster.
…Steel becomes hair and fingernails, joining with muscles and tendons, animal and human and metal…
Performances
- Nov 2021, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival: https://hcmf.co.uk/programme/hcmf-shorts-3/
Acknowledgements
Palace64 was created with the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council. The roller coaster was created using NoLimits 2,
Impossible Roller Coaster Tutorials 1-3
Standalone Video
27:00
1080p, 2 channel audio
2020
Created for CMHK
About
Showings
- October 15, 2020, Hong Kong Arts Centre, CMHK Sound Forms Festival
Acknowledgements
Impossible Roller Coaster Tutorials 1-3 was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts. The roller coaster was created using NoLimits 2, and the video was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.
Palace64
Living Score
Unspecified Chamber Ensemble
8:00
2019
Created for Decibel New Music
About
In Palace64, I wanted to explore algorithmic roller coaster building. I created 20+ roller coasters using various formulae, which I imported as paths to Nolimits Coaster. Then, I created a custom 3D environment and shot countless hours of video, which I edited into what you see above! I wanted to evoke the idea of a post-human roller coaster environment reminiscent of a coral reef on an alien planet.
Musically, the piece consists of a pre-recorded track made up of a stretched out field recording taken at Thorpe Park as well as live acoustic instruments. I transmitted this piece to Decibel orally using a series of recorded spoken transmissions. During the performance, the musicians react to both the impossible virtual roller coasters on screen and mental and embodied memories of roller coasters—both real and imagined.
Performances
- July 25, 2019 by Decibel New Music at Monash University at TENOR2019 in Melbourne, Australia
Further Information
Acknowledgements
Palace64 was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts. The roller coaster was created using NoLimits 2, and the video was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro. Special thanks to Cat Hope.
Moonriver32
Traditional Score
Unspecified Chamber Ensemble (at least 4 instruments) + solo amplified voice + tape + video
5:00
2018-2019
Created for TAK Ensemble
About
Moonriver32 is dedicated to the memory of my aunt, Patricia Bouk. This piece draws inspiration and material from a number of sources: a recording of a dying carousel playing Moon River, Audrey Hepburn singing the same iconic song in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, my early teenage experience designing roller coasters… The video in Moonriver32 depicts an impossible roller coaster… a kind of whimsical yet nightmarish Audrey Hepburn-themed thrill ride. When I designed roller coasters at an early age, I was concerned with realism. Now, fifteen years later, I am more inspired by conceptual art and Disney’s Imagineering than real world physics….
Performances
- March 2, 2019 at the Cluster: New Music + Integrated Arts Festival, TAK Ensemble (Winnipeg, MB)
Acknowledgements
Moonriver32 was created with the generous support of the Canada Council for the Arts. The roller coaster was created using NoLimits 2, and the video was edited in Adobe Premiere Pro.