Physeter

Physeter is an audiovisual live electronics performance based on a custom-designed cybernetic modular synthesizer. Due to an entangled network of feedback loops, this synthesizer functions as a chaotic process capable of creating a broad spectrum of sounds. In concert, these sounds are amplified through a set of gongs and complemented with acoustic sounds from a cello, turning this solo performance into a playground where humans and machines become one. Physeter takes its inspiration from Moby Dick, imagining an enchanting, ephemeral yet volatile entity that seems always to stay one step ahead. Perpetually just out of grasp.

Physeter (In Pursuit of the Mirage) is an audiovisual performance that investigates the artistic production of meanings within a performance practice that is marked by the use of chaotic, recursive processes. Chaos displays a contradictory set of qualities. On the one hand, there is the unstable, unpredictable, and volatile, but underneath it all, there is a system, a twisted form of logic that determines the fragile outcomes as the process endures.

The balance between these two poles points towards an emergent aesthetic of surprise and discovery. Too frantic to allow for a seamless line of communication from performer to audience, yet bounded enough to maintain an elusive but nearly graspable semblance of patterns. The performer and audiences alike are compelled to chase a mirage, marked by unfamiliar sonic behaviors, always on the hunt for the vivid evocation that breaches expectations. What does one perceive as one stares unto the deep?

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