ArtzElectro focuses on creative works that combine different electronic media, and works
that combine electronic media with real-time performance. It aims to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration between new and traditional methods of artistic production.
Prior events have drawn on local, national and international contributions. This workshop
is of students’ works. It includes contributions from Computer Graphic Design, Music,
Screen and Media; and the Bachelor/Hons degree in Media and Creative Technologies.
We look forward to continuing work as the graduate MMCT degree begins in 2014.
Ian Whalley, Director - ArtzElectro
Rendering the work has involved multiple photo-shoots which gave the basis for the
project. From the photo-shoot, a documentary was created, a website made, an app
built, and advertisements published. On stage there will also be a fashion performance to
showcase the trend and its implementation.
Permanent Residence (3’30)
Stefan Dimitrof, Declan Spooner-Knight, Dave Adams, Dadire Abdi, Aaron Hamilton.
Thanks to Darren Cederman.
Permanent Residence is a horror experience like no other. By immersing audiences in
dynamic imagery and a dramatic soundscape, viewers are transported into a ‘house of
horrors’. Victims enter the booth and utilise gesture control to create their own path
through the maze of characters and scenarios. The tools Max/MSP, Isadora and Synapse
are combined to create this experience, and will leave you wanting more.
The Empath (3’52)
Jordan Browne, Jade Browne, Daniel Trainor, Jake Ngawaka
Pitch Painter (6’00)
Tristan Coombes, Jayde van Maanen, Meghan Lancaster and Magdalena Bredenkamp.
Using MAX/MSP/Jitter and multiple touch screen mobile devices for performance, this
work uses single images and sound samples to create a mosaic that explores the idea of
appearance vs. reality. We live in a world where pop culture and social media dictate
how we live, our expectations, and how we interact with one another; and even
influences how we dress, what we eat, and what we deem an acceptable way to treat
our fellow citizens. The work uses the fundamental elements of nature - earth, fire, water
and air - to represent the two sides of an argument: the appearance that everything is
good, right and favourable in our lives, and the reality of the world in chaos. The effects
of natural disasters, poverty, war and corruption rarely get full news coverage, as we
have been desensitised with constant media bombardment through newspapers,
television, and the internet. Our intent is to highlight the chaos we are accustomed to
but rarely notice, through the joining of sound and image through human interaction.
Unknown (4’30)
Kristy Wright, Matthew Fleet, Shaun Foster, Shannon Hopkirk
In the recent years there have been a number of unexplained disturbances in New
Zealand native bush. The team Unknown have begun to investigate these reports,
unearthing the security company ‘ParkWatch’ and gaining first-hand accounts and
footage from victims. Over the past few weeks, advertising in the form of banners,
posters, websites and slideshows have alerted the students of Waikato University to this
unknown predator. Tonight the truth will be unveiled in the form of a short film and
interactive Isadora performance. Unknown will change your perception of safety in the
New Zealand bush, and challenge you to change the way you think.
As evening falls, a young man is drawn out into the night. Strange images and feelings
begin to overwhelm him. He runs from his own confusion and an upwelling of guilt and
sadness that is not his own. It is a psychic link, a connection with a troubled young
woman. As her world crumbles, her loneliness and pain begin to overwhelm the young
man, who turns to drugs to cope with his increasing madness. When the woman meets a
tragic end, the young man finally finds peace.
Flow (5’00)
Video: James Sutherland. Audio: Jeremy Mayall
This work is influenced by the writings of Hungarian psychologist Mihaly
Csikszentmihalyi, who contends that people are happiest when they are in a state of flow
- a state of concentration or complete absorption with the activity at hand and the
situation. On first viewing, the work appears to be repetitive in terms of sound and
image, but subtle shifts exist in space and texture. This repetitiveness seeks to lull the
viewer into a quasi-meditative state: a reference to ‘being in the work’ in the abstract
expressionist tradition. Musically it explores a harmonic field of specific pitches,
constructed with an internal symmetry around the note F4 using both the major and
minor 3rd intervals alternately. But this internal symmetry is not obvious due to the
offset nature of the melodic placement. Audio effects enhance and alter the sonic
envelope paths – thus creating a sense of musical movement in the ‘negative space’.
Computer Graphic Design Show Real (10’00)
CGRD242-13B students’ work: Gage Hall (00:08-01:32), Jenna Bowers (01:32-02:36),
Martin Neal (02:36-03:50), Oliver Rieger (03:50-05:08), Olivia Paris (05:08-06:24),
Victoria Berkers (06:24-07:32).
Ropa Revés (5’00)
Marguerite Gilbert, Craig Gillivan, Christian Rika, Jo Wade.
CGRD343-13B students’ work: Val Cabadonga (07:44-08:16) Alessia Weir (08:16-08:52)
Matthew Quinn (08:52-09:28) Outro (09:28-10:00)
This project is based on starting and implementing a fashion trend. The trend is wearing
clothing backwards. This concept is based on the idea of influencing social behaviour and
the ease of doing this, especially through the fashion industry.
The CGRD242-13B assignment tasks students with presenting spoken words in visual
form as motion graphics. Ideally, the work produced gives new expression to the text.
Students applied knowledge of typography, layout and animation principles to create
pieces that are sympathetic to and reinforce the message.
The brief of the CGRD343-13B assignment was to produce a TV Channel Ident - the
commercial name for a TV Channel Identity or on screen advertisement for a TV
Channel. Idents normally include the types of programmes that the channel provides and
style the channel executes. This has to relate to the channel’s target audience to let the
audience know what they can expect from the channel and identify with. Idents are also
part of TV promotional packages - normally shown between programmes and used on
road shows for advertising purposes and visual enjoyment.
Catception (5’00)
Rhiannon Murdoch
Catception is a gradual layering idea based on the concept of inception, featuring a
typical day for a cat. The day is presented from the cat’s perspective. The piece follows
the cat as it observes the world around it, but it also includes what it dreams about while
asleep. The cat gradually becomes confused between what it observes while awake, and
what occurs in its dreams. It becomes so confused that it cannot tell the difference
between dreams and reality. This interactive performance uses MAX/MSP/VIZZIE and
iPad control.
Revolutions: The Self (5’00)
Anna Tashkova
Revolutions: The Self explores the changing nature of the world around us as individuals
and our space and function within society. Introspection is achieved through metaphoric
imagery that can be understood by wider society, but which also evokes personal
memories, emotions and associations. The piece utilises generative and interactive
control over the aural and visual elements, with each section of the representing a
different stage in human history from the perspective of the individual. The journey
moves from our naturalistic origins based on cycles and phases, through an allegory of
the Industrial Revolution, to the present day. The modern psychological struggle of
balancing and reconciling technology with our need for nature is explored through realtime manipulation of sonic samples, graphics, and effects. The work explores the
personal, interpretive nature of the human experience where no one lives the same life,
but may be similarly affected by shared history. This interactive performance uses
MAX/MSP/VIZZIE and iPad control.
Under Tron (3’30)
Tim Elphick, Peter Oliver, Sabina Dillon, Jason Lomo and Judy Elliot.
This work is a series of still black and white images taken on Victoria Street, Hamilton,
early in the morning before the street becomes active. We wanted to establish the
presentation of these photographs as active elements, to suggest changes in space and
time, and sometimes even create a disorientating effect so that the experience of space
and time is blurred. The soundscape and the very occasional image of a person suggest
the trace of the presence of humans and their various activities. It is as though the
energy of humans remains in the street long after they have left, and these traces give
the still images a texture as an added dimension.
Drone (8’50)
Composition - Teresa Connors. Video- Andrew Denton
Drone is an experimental video and sound work constructed from images and sounds
collected from North American late night television. The source media was recorded and
then manipulated in Canada, over the long dark winter at the end of 2001. Through the
use of re-photography and audio processing techniques, Drone folds back in on itself,
remixing its images and sounds into an audio-visual commentary on the banal chatter
that permeated the airwaves at that time. It was originally presented at the Western
Front gallery in 2002 as a live performance and webcast with an opera libretto.
Xieyi Geometry (6’36)
Yuran Cai, Alistair Swale
Xieyi is a Chinese term common in the field of traditional Chinese painting. It is used to
describe a painting skill which pays more attention to the spirit rather than physical
shape of the being. Yet it doesn’t mean that Xieyi abandons the physical shape entirely
as it still values the shape, for shape is the bearer of spirit. When it comes to the shape,
Xieyi takes more interest in the flexibility and the connection between shapes, and this
connection always has something to do with the spirit. This notion is applied to digital
space. The project creates a fluid space by constructing and deconstructing it; and
explores the interaction between spaces and how this interaction leads to infinite space.
It uses simple geometric shapes and also partial figures to present the fluidity.
Babel (8’00)
Oliver Stewart
This is an interactive performance work based on MAX/MSP/VIZZIE. It was inspired by
the myth of the Tower of Babel from the book of Genesis, where humanity was graced
with a universal language. Babel is an electroacoustic composition that portrays the
history and evolution of language via the medium of sound manipulation. Using samples
of multiple languages and live spoken words, Babel begins with the destruction of
universal language. Following history from the initial re-emergence of verbs, nouns and
synonyms, the piece begins to sprout different dialects. In the final section we are led to
the present day - the Internet - a technology that has allowed us to rediscover a
universal tongue. The visual aspect of the performance shows how ideas were initially
communicated via body language. Body language then began to be accompanied by
noises, and these noises then took shape into particular words.
Te Ao Hurihuri (5’00)
Raquel Murray, Prinai Pillay, Valentine Cameron, Holly Coon, Toka Natua
A translation of this title into English suggests the idea of a constantly changing world.
This film suggests the constant changes in our experience of ourselves and our cultures,
and is based around the evocation of movement and shapes that offer associations
rather than representing explicit things. Further, the overall aesthetic of the work is based
on a feeling of the sea and clouds as these are powerful forces that we can all identify
with in terms of our own experiences. Culture for us is never static but in the
contemporary world it clearly confronts us daily, just as an image of the boat comes
closer and closer to us, sometimes disappearing, sometimes present, but always moving
forward.
30-LOVE (5’00)
Writer/Director - Allison Beda
Choreographer -Claire French
Dancers - Daelik and Delia Brett
Composer - Teresa Connors
This experimental dance film/poem tells the story of the rise and demise of a longdistance relationship played out over a game of tennis. It is an exploration of love and
life and getting the most out of the ‘game’. 30-LOVE won the Best Super Short Film
Award at the All Sports Film Festival in Los Angeles, and has toured the world with the
Moves International Film Festival.
Portfolio Plus
Website/Graphics - Kelly Bennetto
Mock-Video - Abby Leishman
Editing - Liam Dalbeth, Abby Leishman and Emily Green
Portfolio Plus is an interactive online CV aimed at recent graduates to aid in their search
for a job. We have created a brand for our company including logos, colour schemes, Tshirts and the website. We have also created a short mock infomercial to contrast how
society creates illusions about merchandise, in relation to our product. Finally we
produced a video, showing Portfolio Plus headquarters as a company.
Game of Trons
Reilley Ham, Kelsey McCulloch, Mitchel Viernes, James Hadley
A short animated sequence, Game of Trons pays homage to the popular HBO television
series ‘Game of Thrones’. It focuses on the animated opening of the series, where the
viewer is guided across the imaginary landscape, zooming in to highlight key features.
The notable difference between our work and the original is that ours features wellknown landmarks/ buildings in Hamilton, designed with the same structure and sequence
as the original, played over top of the classic soundtrack. The idea was to create a new
perspective of the city, while keeping in theme with the ‘Game of Thrones’ idealism.
Much of the visual style of the original sequence has been applied to this new piece. The
film aims to bring a new and exciting view of Hamilton for residents and newcomers
alike. It is rendered using Maya, Zbrush, Sculptress and Adobe After Effects.
Drift
Chris Barton, Eden Hamlin, Sean Castle, Alex Robinson, Louise Hutt
Drift is a small interactive work which seeks to emulate the feeling of finding oneself in a
beautiful and fantastical place. Utilizing the Microsoft Kinect, the user is able to drift
along a verdant river and find themselves interacting with the environment, ranging from
pushing over obstacles to picking up delicious fruit. Inspired by the works of Tim Burton,
this piece aims to help the user reconnect with their childhood, when the world seemed
simple and the goals were fun.
Material Coordinating: Tomas Ferrari (Computer Graphic Design), Alistair Swale
(CRPC301), Ian Whalley (Music), Bevin Yeatman (Screen and Media).
Operational: Luke Jacobs, Jeremy Mayall, Staff of the APA
Administration: Kim Johnson
Programme Front Cover Image: Andrew Denton
Programme Back Cover Image: Louis Graham
Poster Image: NA0H - Naomi Whalley
Programme Notes: Provided by Creators
http://www.facebook.com/artzelectro
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/fass/about/school-of-arts/music/artzelectro
http://www.waikato.ac.nz/study/qualifications/bmct.shtml