Spacequatica
Live Performance/ Interactive Environment/ Mobile Game (First performed 2007)
Spacequatica was initially developed as a 12-minute live performance for the Future of Sound tour organised by the musical pioneer Martyn Ware. As we perform both the music and characters live using our drumpads, the sounds of the various characters move around the audience in 3D space through the Illustrious Company’s unique 16-speaker immersive audio system.
Visually and sonically, the performance takes us on a journey down through a musical ocean – from the surface, where schools of small exotic creatures are performed like phasing xylophones, through the deeper waters populated by dangerous robotic sharks, and on to the pitch black depths, where all we see and hear are rare self-illuminating species occasionally blinking out of the darkness.
We then developed the work into an “audiovisual aquarium” environment in which audiences could explore and play the different species of musical sea creatures themselves:
We have been invited to run the Spacequatica Installation at various museums, galleries and festivals, including SIGGRAPH 2008 (Los Angeles, USA), Incheon international Digital Art Festival (Korea), Science Museum (London, UK) net.culture.space (Vienna, Austria), Science Center (Singapore), Ars Electronica Centre (Austria), Center for Contemporary Art (Kiev, Ukraine), Tyneside Cinema (Newcastle, UK), Sonic Picnic (Workington, UK), Cornerhouse (Manchester, UK), Automobil Forum (Berlin, Germany), Golden Square (London, UK).
We also developed a variety of Spacequatica Music Games and Apps:
Our Spacequatica live performances have included the following venues:
The Sage, Gateshead, UK
British Library, UK
Royal College of Art, London, UK
Ars Electronica Gala Ceremony, Austria
Tate Britain, London, UK
Microsoft Imagine Conference, Redmond WA USA
International Design Summit, Ringling College, Sarasota, Florida, USA
Casablanca, Morocco
Scopitone Festival, France
The Hub, Workington
Nemo Festival, Paris, France
Arnolfini, Bristol, UK
Pheonix Square, Leicester, UK
Auditorio Municipal, Vila do Conde, Portugal
De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill on Sea, UK
La Noche de Blanco, Plaza del Callao, Madrid, Spain
The Sylvester Space, Sheffield, UK
CUC Liverpool, UK
St Georgen im Attergau, Austria
Contact Theatre, Manchester, UK
The BMI, Birmingham, UK
net.culture.space, Vienna, Austria
Fabric, London, UK
Machinima Festival Europe ’07
Sheffield Hallam University, UK
333 Club, Old Street, London, UK
Kinetica Museum, London, UK
Queen Mary, University of London, UK
The Junction, Cambridge, UK
Goldsmiths College, London, UK
Norwich Arts Centre, Norwich, UK
Millennium Galleries, Sheffield, UK
Characters:
Credits
Director
Ed Cookson
Characters
Edward Dawson-Taylor
Olly Venning
System Architect
Adam Hoyle
Music
Lewis Sykes
Ed Cookson
Live AV
Bruno Mathez
Hardware
Ian Steele
Performers
Joel Farland
Bernie Gardner
Ed Cookson
Lewis Sykes
Ben Bryant
Oli Blake
John Blease
Adam Clifford
Thanks
Martyn Ware
Asa Bennett
Bianca Petscher and all at Ars Electronica