Virtual reality meets composition with “Point Line Piano” in Karlsruhe, Germany. This audiovisual composition experience was created in collaboration with digital artists OpenEndedGroup and Polish composer-pianist Jarosław Kapuściński. “Point Line Piano” is a project that rethinks the composition, performance and reception of piano music by fusing its modes of creating, playing, and listening.

“Point Line Piano” is created as you interact with it, as a form of live graphic notation. Your ears, eyes, and hand act in concert both with one another and with the artwork as it responds musically and visually. The start of each section begins the same way, with your hand stroking freely-drawn lines in the immersive surround space of virtual reality. As these strokes become a part of the space, the notes they spark are notched as points. Rapidly accumulating, these notes form distinct melodic phrases and rhythms. Meanwhile the computer creates intricate geometries in response to the points and lines you’ve drawn. The work enables a spatial and full-body experience of abstraction that is to be found in no other medium.

The premiere of this new work took place this past weekend, March 15-17, at the ZKM Center for Art and Media in Karlsruche.

[sources: jaroslawkapuscinski.com, facebook.com]