Ensemble & Ensemble of Me
What I think about when I think about improvisation

Moiré

In mathematics, physics, and art, a moiré pattern (/mwɑrˈeɪ/; French: [mwaˈʁe]) is a secondary and visually evident superimposed pattern created, for example, when two identical (usually transparent) patterns on a flat or curved surface (such as closely spaced straight lines drawn radiating from a point or taking the form of a grid) are overlaid while displaced or rotated a small amount from one another. 1

 

Moiré-like patterns emerge when I put layers of similar video material on top of each other, letting them bleed into each other. To me this is a response to, and a derivate from composites and seemingly independent loops that are rubbing and bleeding into each other in Dans les arbres.

Increasingly condensed energy in a loop of sounds may not necessarily correspond to higher density in a visual moiré. The changes in the visual moirés are related to my bodily moves. The less I move –­ as long as I am not completely still ­– the more the layers rub, visually. Or, more precisely, less movement offers more interesting visual rubbing. And if I move too much, it is too chaotic. The friction between the layers gets too dominant.

My movement and the emerging moirés may have little or nothing to do with what is happening, musically – which unlinks the visuals from the sound, enabling a more interesting audio-visual polyphony. I also find that it enables interesting time confusion. I am no longer sure what is happening in the moment and what just happened. This time confusion is an important motivation for Video Ensemble, performed on the Final Artistic Presentation 22 April 2015.


 

Usage

1. From early Video Ensemble tests:

2. From Jök & seasicK, March 2015:

Video documentation: Torgrim Sollid


3. The idea of visual moirés, translated into music. From concert at Norwegian Academy of Music, October 2014:

Video documentation: Torgrim Sollid

 




1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moiré_pattern (Accessed 28 August, 2015)