I was approached during the festival to participate in an interview and submit my answers to some questions regarding my involvement and my work for it.
Full interview here:https://threadsradio.com/post/interviews-kallida-festival
The following is a transcript of my answers:
1. How did you find Kallida or how did they reach out to you?
I worked with Pete Dunsby (Funsby), one of the organisers, at various venues across Sheffield for many years. We worked on some fun projects together, this happens often with my work as a lighting designer but I especially appreciated what Pete was doing in terms of making & building diy lighting systems, as that is what I enjoy also. Furthermore, I am constantly talking about my art practice & the philosophy behind it so as soon as there is ever an opportunity to convey a message to people, in any capacity, I take it.
2. What inspired your art installation / what was the concept behind it and how does it relate to the festival /music?
I suffer from Synaesthesia, which is defined as the blending of the senses. I find most people who have this sensation do not ‘suffer’ from it but I find for me it can be somewhat of a hindrance in communication. This is what inspired the original incarnation of this art installation back in 2017, a need to communicate an experience which can’t be explained with words. Comparisons to other similar experiences are probably the easiest way to relate to somebody what the installation is like because the experience is the result of a combination of internal sensory information it cannot be conveyed solely with words, it’s ineffable. I think it relates to the festival by offering a unique perspective on our own sensory experiences going through such an ordeal as the ‘British festival’, which can be a very overwhelming experience for many. This installation serves as a way to take a step back and observe how our mind can physically influence our body and vice versa.
3. Are you looking to develop this further or take the installation to other spaces?
Yes definitely, I have been working on various versions of it on and off since its inception and hope to refine it further and make the experience even more dynamic and exciting! In the future I would like to make a 2-player version of it, where each are shown a biological state and the 1st/closest participant to reach that state ‘wins’ if that makes sense? I would also like to utilise many other non-invasive methods of externalising biological data, like eye-tracking.
4. How did you find people who interacted with your project? Any interesting reactions?
Because the installation responds based on how a person is feeling, everyone interacted with it completely independently, both actively and passively. Those who were anxious would have had and felt an anxious response from it, and inversely those who were more at ease will have had a calming experience. It exacerbates your feelings like that I find, whether you want it to or not!
Everyone reacted so differently, it was very exciting to see because I had made the installation according to how I felt, to then to see it react completely differently with a new set of sounds and colours for each person was incredibly heart-warming. Only 1 or 2 people had a bad experience with it, which considering I estimated putting around 100 people through is an acceptable rate of failure.
5. Particularly anything that left an impression or surprised you?
I put someone in the installation that also had synaesthesia and they had a very interesting reaction that was almost exclusively colours and all of them too! Seeing my work be accessible and communicable with other synaesthetes is an intensely great joy to me.
Recently, I woke up in the midst of an intense panic attack, 100% convinced I was on the very brink of death. So I reasoned that if I was going to die I at least wanted it to at least sound good, so I instantly whipped out ableton and connected the circuit (that I use for this installation) that detects micro-changes in the skin (Galvanic Skin Response) and translates them into MIDI notes. I did a quick bit of sound design and off I slipped into what I was then convinced was death. I, of course awoke the next day to the mellifluous tones of reality, however it was the ability of using this interactive work to quantitatively record how I was feeling at that exact moment in time that struck me when I listened back to it. Since then I have been recording my biology whilst asleep every day/night and I intend to use these datasets for both training and creating further works. I think everyone has different ways of dealing with stress and anxiety especially regarding death; I cope best by making things. It alleviates a part of me that doesn’t want to be forgotten, ideas can outlive people by a long shot.