Ritual / System

Nicholas Medvescek

Ritual / System is an immersive performance research project that explores relationships between frequencies of sound, light, rhythm, and space. This performance strives to reorient the audience in perspective and perception through spatial audio and immersive visual presentation. The performance instruments—both analogue and digital—are interconnected through a real-time audio analysis system.

This proprietary system, known as MASARY Real Time Audio Analysis (MRTAA), synthesizes audio inputs from the performance instruments and transforms them into triggers for projected visual animations. This connection between sound and image allows for both hyper-synchronized motifs and procedural expressions that respond to the performers’ real-time choices. The performance explores the most simple elements of sound (vibrations) in space—often moving, and ultimately compiling, stacking and coalescing towards recognizable harmonic relationships and rhythmical patterns. The piece ultimately interrogates the placement and management of syncopation across various frequency centers. As this process unfolds, the sonic reference elements (regular period / metronomic features) also travel to various frequency centers in the audible spectrum. This active exploration of syncopation and reference frequency is at the core of the project.