Impossible Roller Coaster

Impossible Roller Coaster Tutorials 1-3

Standalone Video

27:00

1080p, 2 channel audio

2020

Created for CMHK

About

Forget everything you know about roller coasters. Forget the idea that roller coasters are made for humans. Forget the idea that roller coasters must be designed and built in a process that takes thousands of hours. Enter a creative state where roller coasters are sculptures of speed, gravity, and potential motion. Enter a creative state where you can create roller coasters as fast as molten metal. Enter a creative state where boundaries, intersections, danger and collisions are productive and empowering goals. Embrace the impossible…
In this three part tutorial series, I will guide you through the concepts and practicalities of designing impossible digital roller coasters using No Limits Coaster 2. In each video, we will practice releasing our minds from the shackles of mortality and gravity and allow ourselves to consider the infinite possibilities that roller coasters might (re)present. I will also provide technical strategies for roller coaster design rooted in my own practice of using simulation software for artmaking. Each video is accompanied by an original electronic soundtrack and contains multiple visual sequences to illustrate the various concepts.
These tutorials are suitable for anyone curious about the intersections between roller coaster design, electronic music and impossible thinking. No previous experience is necessary!

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

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.