Blue Space for oboe and interactive audio-visual system

Blue Space is a work for oboe and interactive audio-visual system which uses motion tracking, real-time fluid simulation and granular sound synthesis to create a responsive digital environment. The gestures, movements and sounds made by the oboist generate the audio-visual digital content which is projected in real time. The interactive system used for Blue Space has its origins in the dance work ‘Encoded’, performed in 2012 by the Stalker Theatre, which used a fluid simulation system developed by Andrew Johnston at the Creativity and Cognition Studios at UTS. The addition of sound to the original system led to the earlier experimental works for oboe, Sound Stream and Airflow in 2013. Based on Gaston Bachelard’s philosophical text ‘Water and Dreams’, Blue Space explores the relationships between water, image and sound. Taking form in many kinds of fluid, vapour, ice crystals and rain, water appears in its diverse moods, encompassing tranquility, power, life and death. While the work has a clearly defined structure, improvised sections allow flexible interaction during performance as the artists react to each other and to the output of the system.