Zoom Fatigue is a collaborative online sensory experience informed by the remote interactions we have been forced to adapt during our collective lockdown.
The expressive freedom of musicians and artists within physical creative spaces has been severely disrupted in the wake of COVID-19. Using this as a conceptual foundation, Sonic artist Adam Stearns and New Media artist Stephen Curtis aim to explore the nature of the performance space in an online-restricted world.
Both artists view this experimental piece as a chance to reconsider remote interactions through platforms such as Zoom as a blank canvas and catalyst for new forms of generative audio/visual experiences.
Visitors are invited to explore the responsive online canvas using motion and gestures detected via standard webcams, allowing for a reactive visual and musical collaboration developed with accessibility in mind. Each audiovisual Zoom call we run (times/dates tbc) will host 9 active participants who will gesturally improvise with each other to create a unique collaborative composition.
These compositions will be recorded and made available to watch via the Glad:Online// website.
Stephen Curtis “As a new media artist and musician, I am always considering how the objects that surround us can be reframed and perceived in a new interactive context . Alongside many other artists, my ongoing practice has focused on working within collaborative live events and community art spaces. This series of past lockdowns has forced many of us to think how performances can be reconsidered within the screen-based and streaming world. As someone who is fascinated by the relationship between sound and visuals, I always enjoy meeting new creative practitioners in the Glasgow sonic arts scene. I have really enjoyed working with Adam, continually drawing inspiration from his wide experience in sonic experimentation throughout developing visuals responses for the piece. I am excited to see how people react to the final piece in May and the further creative opportunities it could bring for us.”
Adam Stearns “As a sonic artist who works predominantly with dancers, I am very aware of the inherent links between the body and music. With this project I wanted participants to be able to express themselves musically through moving their bodies. Over lockdown, many musicians and artists have been starved of opportunities to collaborate in real-time with other people. This project attempts to remedy this by giving people the chance to remotely improvise and express themselves together on Zoom. I am sure many of you, if not all of you, are suffering from extreme “Zoom fatigue”. I feel your pain. Hopefully, this creative audiovisual experience will be a unique, more engaging, Zoom call! It has been a pleasure joining forces with Steve on this project. His depth of knowledge in New Media and his ability to problem solve all the technical hurdles that have been thrown at us has been indispensable.”
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