INVENTING A NEW FORM OF ARTISTIC EXPRESSION
THAT UNIFIES MUSIC, DANCE AND INTERACTIVE DIGITAL ART
Imagine you could visualise live music and manipulate it with your hands. This is what CITYSHAKE has achieved. The project ERASED is an experimental live performance where visuals interact in real-time and simultaneously with music and movement. Digital artists PIERRE BLAISE DIONET and ILMARI HEIKKINEN from CITYSHAKE push here the boundaries of artistic expression by creating a new format that unifies music, dance and visuals on one single canvas. The result is an immersive and interactive installation that places the human at the very center of digital art creation. Bringing together the electro pop music band ULTRAVIOLET and the dancer & choreographer ISABELLE FRANQUES, the semi-improvised choreography results in a totalising force of sound and visuals allowing each artistic expression to concur in an arresting experience.
LIVING A UNIQUE MOMENT
THAT EXPRESSES HUMAN EMOTIONS
Music and dance are direct expressions of human emotions that find here a common visual assertion. In this regard, ERASED captures accurately the impermanence of human emotions that are spontaneous, wavering and evanescent. The intangible becomes tangible. The visuals are entirely dependent on the human elements of dance and music, meaning that each experience of this performance is completely unique and instinctive. At each occasion, the audience will share an ephemeral experience of total immersion, and have the opportunity to witness the 250,000 violet fairies come to life through generative content in an organic manner.
AUGMENTED MOVEMENTS
ENHANCING CHOREOGRAPHY
The interactive content is designed in a way that enhances the dancer’s choreography, as if the particle movements were extensions of the dancer’s gestures. The dancer has the ability to direct the fairies through precisely designed body movements and hand gestures. By opening her hands, the dancer urges the particles to collide and disperse across the screen, creating a chaotic movement, as if she was throwing sand in the air. Closing her hands results in a charging concentration of particles, whilst pointing projects a warp that juts across the screen. Through her gestuelle, the dancer’s movements become augmented by the visuals that she directs.
THE INSPIRATION
BEYOND LIGHT
The inspiration behind the name of the band, ULTRAVIOLET, is tied to the idea of colour that lies beyond the spectrum. In keeping with this notion, the scenography of the installation has been adapted to create a holographic effect through the use of black light and an immersive cage composed of three screens, which deepens the overall experience of immersion. The name of the song, ERASED, is a response to the letters U and V that become illegible when the dancer creates moves in a certain way, resulting in a dispersion of the particles that form the letters.
ULTRAVIOLET FAIRIES
ART DIRECTION
The visuals of this magical experience are made possible with the 250,000 violet fairies that take the form of particles appearing on the screen and reacting to the music and the dancer’s movements. At the beginning of the performance they appear in a horizontal line, as if resting, they progressively become more reactive and morph into a chaotic cloud as the music and dancing progress. Music and dance are the commanders of the particles, who are given their own life on screen, and eventually form the letters U and V that alternate in reference to the name of the band: UltraViolet. Through state-of-the-art technology, space becomes the canvas of an entirely new artistic expression.
ARTISTIC COLLABORATION
A HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT
This installation is the result of human collaboration that unifies different forms of expression into a single canvas, in real-time. Artists from different disciplines have come together in order to orchestrate this collaborative masterpiece, which without human talent would not be possible. The dancer ISABELLE FRANQUES developed a choreography that augments the power of music played by ULTRAVIOLET, the evolution of the song, and the meaning of the lyrics, illustrating a whole new format for dance, that she has achieved beautifully.
ISABELLE FRANQUES - DANCER & CHOREOGRAPHER
Isabelle discovers the art of dancing at the age of 6 and starts discovering two universes, modern and classical dance. In 2007, she begins her vocational training at the Manufacture d'Aurillac, where she explores with Hip Hop, Contact Dance, Contemporary Dance and Improvisation. In 2010 she studies at the Pléiade de Vichy where she specialises in Jazz dance and obtains her Diplôme d’Etat and starts her career in 2011 with Air Food Company. since then she has been dancing for various companies in France and Belgium: Ballet Jazz Art, Resonance, Komusin, Trafic de Styles, Cie Giaccomo Martellacci ...
ULTRAVIOLET - ELECTRO POP ROCK
Ultraviolet is a young French duo of Electro Pop Rock born in born in January 2016 from the encounter of Louis and Romane, two musicians from different musical universes. The young duo from Clermont-Ferrand has devoted its energy to the writing and composition of original titles in a personal style inspired from various influences, including jazz, pop and oriental. Ultraviolet has released in 2016 a first EP Outlaw composed of 6 very personal tracks.
IMAGO - MUSIC & IMAGE PRODUCTION CENTER
Specially dedicated to musical creation, visual experimentation and scenography, IMAGO is a unique place that encourages encounters between artists and producers (musicians, directors, technicians, developers, creators of sound and visual content ...). space is organized around 3 platforms of 200m2, 50m2 and 30m2. The studio-stage of 200m2 is a modular space that allows multiple configurations. Situated in Clermont-Ferrand, Imago is the only studio of its kind in France.