ROBERT HENKE BRINGING PERFORMANCE OF LUMIERE II TO MELBOURNE RECITAL CENTRE IN COLLABORATION WITH MELBOURNE MUSIC WEEK
"It was a full-body experience, with piercingly bright lasers dancing on a screen and chest-vibrating sub-bass perfectly paired with the visuals" - Now Toronto
Robert Henke is a German sound artist who builds and operates machines that create sounds, shapes and structures. He is also responsible for groundbreaking techno productions under the Monolake moniker, which epitomises the 'Berlin' sound. In his new project, Lumière II, Henke teaches lasers to dance and will be bringing this immersive, unmissable performance to Melbourne Recital Centre’s Elisabeth Murdoch Hall on Thursday 19 November in collaboration with Melbourne Music Week.
Tickets are selling fast, with limited seats available via melbournerecital.com.au or (03) 9699 3333.
Powerful lasers draw rapid successions of morphing shapes and connected points in space, precisely synched with carefully crafted sonic events to create a situation of total audiovisual synesthesia. Perfect geometric figures are contrasted with floating organic structures, the archaic sign language of an alien culture communicating via traces of light. Massive and overwhelming at times, fragile and delicate at others.
Lumière II explores the limits of what can be done with lasers, pushing the medium to the extreme and playing with its very own properties to create previously unseen images of excessive brightness or near complete darkness, pure white or colors impossible to achieve with video, shapes and movements between boldness and complex elegance. A constantly refined piece of software written by the artist himself makes it possible to compose in a process that always links sound and vision. Sound is vision is sound, treated as one absolute unity.
Lumière II is a performance on the edge of concert and visual arts. It is the second iteration of a long term exploration of a commonly underrated medium, an ongoing work in progress with every performance representing a unique snapshot of the current state. The title Lumière simply means light in French but also refers to the pioneers of early cinema, Auguste and Louis Lumière.
The experience is ecstatic for both performer and audience. No photograph or video can approximate the sensation of being caught live in this audio-visual maelstrom.
Proudly Presented by Melbourne Recital Centre and Melbourne Music Week in association with The Goethe-Institut Australia
ROBERT HENKE: LUMIERE II - selling fast!
THURSDAY 19 NOVEMBER
7:30pm – 8:30pm
Elisabeth Murdoch Hall
Melbourne Recital Centre
Tickets available now via melbournerecital.com.au or (03) 9699 3333
In addition to this incredible performance, Melbourne Recital Centre has arranged an exclusive 2-part workshop with Robert Henke. Spaces are limited, so book early.
EXCLUSIVE WORKSHOP WITH ROBERT HENKE
Robert Henke Examines Lumière II An inside look at Robert Henke's laser performance, Lumière II
"Give Robert Henke a computer, some lasers, and some time to make his own tools as well as his own music, and wonderful things result. In a new video (German, with English subtitles), he gives a master class not so much in technology as the philosophy of using that technology." - Created Digital Music
Robert Henke builds and operates machines that create sounds, shapes and structures. He is fascinated by the beauty of technical objects and developing his own instruments and algorithms is an integral part of his creative process. Melbourne Recital Centre has invited Robert to spend an evening demonstrating his new setup for the piece Lumière II. Robert Henke will use one of the Lumière II lasers to show real examples of what he's doing with Lumière II.
Part 1
The development of an audiovisual language using lasers and sound. Conceptual and aesthetic adventures in the exploration of a commonly underrated medium. Topics of the talk include a history of Henke's laser works starting with his 'Fragile Territories' installation, and a detailed discussion about the aesthetic challenges of the Lumière II project.
Part 2
Developing a technical framework for Lumière II. This part of the talk provides in-depth details about the technical aspects of the project, starting from the properties and limitations of the used laser system down to the details of the code developed by Robert Henke to drive the lasers and the interaction between the sound and the visual elements. The Lumière II project's is technically based on a combination of Ableton Live, Max4Live devices, and a lot of MaxMSP/gen~ code.
ROBERT HENKE WORKSHOP
FRIDAY 20 NOVEMBER
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Salon, Melbourne Recital Centre
Workshop tickets available now via melbournerecital.com.au or (03) 9699 3333
roberthenke.com
melbournerecitalcentre.com.au
Robert Henke is co-presented by Melbourne Music Week in association with The Goethe-Institut Australia.