IN SYNC: HARMONIC DISSONANCE

presentatie in IDlab Studio tijdens researchweek 17-21 febr 2020

Can we capture the essence of human connectedness; the elusive sense of “oneness” that lies above and beyond the mere physical presence of another human body?

In HARMONIC DISSONANCE - SYNCHRON(ICIT)Y, DIKKER + OOSTRIK (interactive media artist Matthias Oostrik and neuroscientist Suzanne Dikker) collaborate with Arnoud Traa (sound designer and composer) and ICK to investigate this question together with dancers and the audience via audiovisual reflections of movements and brainwaves. How does movement synchrony (coordination, mirroring, unison, anticipation, resonance, play, etc.) relate to a sense of togetherness, to synchronicity of the mind?

HARMONIC DISSONANCE - SYNCHRON(ICIT)Y is a performative art/science research project where fragments from the repertoire of Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten enter into a dialogue with the terminology and working procedures from the Neurosciences and interactive media design.

Decomposing synchrony and synchronicity:

During this research week at IDlab, the focus lies on the triangular relation between the dancers, de technology and the audience and on how experiences of synchronicity are mirrored in the experience of the spectators. Earlier working sessions of HARMONIC DISSONANCE - SYNCHRON(ICIT)Y were focused on defining synchrony and on decomposing it into its primary parts (see conceptual cloud below). These notions were then used for further research into the “dual utopia” of synchronicity. Attention was first given to the relations between the dancers and the interactive technology. The analysis of the experience of synchronicity between the dancers was then focused on discerning and naming different movement intentionalities, such as distinguishing between moving together and moving simultaneously.

In the paradigm of the artistic signature of Emio Greco | Pieter C. Scholten, synchronicity is defined as a “dual utopia”, an aim, an ideal, whereby moving as “one body” is aimed at.

More background information on HARMONIC DISSONANCE and earlier projects of DIKKER + OOSTRIK can be read in Suzanne Dikker, Sean Montgomery and Suzan Tunca, “Using Synchrony-Based Neurofeedback in Search of Human Connectedness,” in Brain Art. Brain-Computer Interfaces for Artistic Expression, edited by Anton Nijholt, Springer 2019. https://osf.io/56q4r

Iterations of this research have been performed by ICK-dancers Arad Inbar and Sedrig Verwoert at the opening event of “Doornburgh Buitenplaats voor Kunst en Wetenschap” and at the BNM Fest in Marseille (2018). In 2019 a performance and workshop with Suzanne Dikker and Suzan Tunca took place in the context of the Rotterdam Arts & Sciences Lab (RASL) Transdisiplinary Compositions – Contemporary Challenges and a presentation about this research was given at the ICK Fest 2019.

DIKKER + OOSTRIK and Harmonic Dissonance are supported by Stichting Niemeijer Fonds (2017-2020).