Audio-visual performer Paul Prudence brought his hugely immersive show, Cyclotone, to the Imperial venue at this year's EM15. The floor-to-ceiling screen played host to Prudence's experimental live display, where he melded algorithmic, computational and generative environments. Dovetailing sharp sound design and conceptual graphics using only black, white and grey tones, Prudence brought the audience on a stark journey through cyclical space. For the duration of the piece, the visuals focused on one centre point around which everything interacted.
At first, lines ran toward the centre with each beat causing a disturbance on the lines that hit like the mechanics of a typewriter. After being drawn into the point, the viewer was then shown the flip-side of the universe, so to speak, from the other side of the hole. Here, tornados of graphics centripetally swirled around the black hole, seemingly sucking in all known matter in the universe. Interestingly, despite how strikingly digital the entire performance was, it still managed to evoke emotion — mainly foreboding and dread that all life is gradually spiralling down an unstoppable wormhole.
At first, lines ran toward the centre with each beat causing a disturbance on the lines that hit like the mechanics of a typewriter. After being drawn into the point, the viewer was then shown the flip-side of the universe, so to speak, from the other side of the hole. Here, tornados of graphics centripetally swirled around the black hole, seemingly sucking in all known matter in the universe. Interestingly, despite how strikingly digital the entire performance was, it still managed to evoke emotion — mainly foreboding and dread that all life is gradually spiralling down an unstoppable wormhole.