VIMEO
OPK Video Showcase: https://vimeo.com/showcase/5176262

SOUNDCLOUD
OPK set: https://soundcloud.com/steve-gibson-101/sets/opk

DESCRIPTION
Opto-Phono-Kinesia (OPK) is a body-based audio-visual performance piece. The title is a play on the possible synesthetic state involving connections between vision, sound and body motion. Theoretically, for a person who experiences this state, a specific colour could trigger both a sound (i.e. a particular note) and a body action (i.e. a flick of the hand).

OPK employs a simulation of synaesthesia as a model for matching of movement to sound, light and image. Each sound placed in space is assigned a light effect and at times a specific video. Different notes of a melody or bass line will be matched to specific light and/or video colours. New virtual rooms with related or different audio-visual-body mappings can be loaded at certain points in a room.

In OPK all audio-visuals are performed in virtual space through body movement. By moving the hands and the body, music, video, special effects, robot lights, and even a smoke machine can be brought to life as if by magic. Motion-tracking allows the performer to be a virtual conductor, conjuring an immersive environment with the body itself. Conceptually OPK makes a case for physically-engaged interaction in response to much of present-day ‘lazy media’, while at the same time the piece subtly references possible damaging uses of those technologies.

PERFORMANCE HISTORY
Premiere: March 19, 2018, Tangible, Embedded and Embodied Interactions (TEI), Stockholm, Sweden.
Live Shoot Invited Performance: October 21, 2019, Northern Dance, Newcastle.

STILLS FROM SHOOTS AT NORTHERN DANCE AND NORTHUMBRIA UNIVERSITY
All Images shot by Liam Hardy and edited by Steve Gibson.
Performers: Steve Gibson and Solomon Lennox.

SYNAESTHESIA MAP EXAMPLES
These maps show the audio-video-light mappings used in of the Performance Excerpts in the Vimeo links at the top of this page.