Four Senses

FOUR_SENSES_1
image/jpeg
720 × 540

The Four Senses was a series of multi-sensory concerts performed at the Dorothy Winstone Theatre in Auckland in 2002. It built upon two 1999 events - one conceptualised and realised by New Zealand artist Raewyn Turner and one that was created by myself in Denmark as a commission for the European Film School and Danish Radio Television where I was a keynote speaker and workshop leader in how to attract audiences to classical music on TV. The series of concerts involved a symphony orchestra (Aotea Youth Symphony Orchestra), a mixed-ability contact improvisation dance company (Touch Compass), a visually impaired singer (Caitlin Smith), a deaf signing choir (Hands). The art collaboration was an experiment in reframing perception of music through correspondences between sensory stimuli (sound, visuals, haptic, olfactory) and the audience's experiences.
For my part, sensors and self-created software were combined and manipulated to result in a real-time visual translation of sound, and the gestures of making that sound, into light and colour. two "creation booths" were set up in the audience (similar to a typical sound engineer FOH mixer station). Walkie talkies were used to communicate between the booths and with volunteer assistants throughout the venue who controlled physical aspects of the stimuli (e.g. Raewyn's olfactory injections into the AC system).

Links
http://raewynturner.co.nz/2010/05/four-senses-multisenses-concerts-2002/

http://netzspannung.org/cat/servlet/CatServlet?cmd=netzkollektor&subCommand=showEntry&lang=en&entryId=74131

Three part primetime TV documentary on You Tube:
(1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTjvCh-XB2o
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDX8K6Vq4kk
(3) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmiWYTytf_0


Related publications:
http://www.icdvrat.org/2008/papers/ICDVRAT2008_S00_N03_Brooks.pdf