The KikiT VisuoSonic research project is a live improvisation between musicians and computer systems outputting visual and sonic responses to musicians’ input. KikiT is described as a visuosonic performance because the musicians become in effect digital artists working directly with the visuals using their instruments in a manner akin to the way in which a painter would use a brush.
In most analogue and digital music performances that are accompanied by computer graphics the musician focuses on their performance and does not look at the visual. In the case of KikiT the musicians interact with and respond directly to the visual output. The interaction between the musicians and the visual output alters in real-time; no two performances are the same.
The musicians currently involved in the project are Maurice Owen, who is principally a visual artist and is also project leader, and the SB Brass sextet. The digital artist Russell Richards has devised the computational aspect of KikiT. Richards creates abstract animations of remarkable beauty. For our visuosonic research project he has developed a series of interactive motion graphic programs.
Photographs from Kikit’s Nassogne Performance April 2007.
