It’s all about the experience. ADC Young Guns 11 winner Cedric Kiefer (onformative) demo’s this knowledge with a synaesthetic art installation, called Collide, an immersive experience of motion, color and sound. 

A site-specific installation commissioned by Dolby Laboratories in San Francisco, Collide is an exploration of the senses by transforming recorded motion data into abstract visuals and sound. By mixing, reversing and eliminating restrictions of time and space, a new vision of the human mind and body is discovered. The work is a multisensory experience exploring the subjects from an emotional perspective, examining the feeling of being immersed in the creative process and attentive to the present moment as the senses combine and become one.

“Surreal visuals and an engaging soundscape create an immersive space capturing the essence of motion, colour and sound to visualize a synaesthetic experience of letting go and losing oneself in the creative process.”

Inspired by the phenomenon of synesthesia, the digital art installation combines original chamber music and painterly visuals. By reinterpreting bodies in motion, the animations act as conductor for the unique musical score composed for the piece. From the selection of gestures of the collected motion data, to the recording of the soundscape of the live musical experience with virtual reality, Collide was created with a commitment to exceed expectations and search for new forms of expression.

The 62-foot long digital ribbon screen situated in the lobby of Dolby Laboratories, acts as a window into a dream-like and abstract creative world. Ephemeral figures emerge out of a colorful void and fade into a surreal environment where movements appear in a non-representational landscape of shape and color. Using the onsite 54-channel speaker system, sound travels throughout the space, immersing visitors as they become part of the experience.

The innovative visual language of the piece reflects the human experience of one’s physical form moving through space. The visual material could be understood as the shifting of molecules on an atomic level as a person uses their body. Visualizing this tangible experience provides an introspective lens through which viewers can relate to the installation from a corporal perspective.

Go Behind the Scenes and see the making of video. 

Credits:

Creative Direction: Cedric Kiefer

Design: Bernd Marbach

Production: Imprint Projects, onformative

Code: Christian Loclair

Audio Development: Kling Klang Klong

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