Touch triggers technology

SYSTEM_ERROR by Chamber Made is a new hybrid work where technology and the human body collide to create a rich aural-visual experience through an amazing bespoke instrument made from a matrix of electrically conductive tape.

Chamber Made Artistic Director and performance-maker Tamara Saulwick comes together with contemporary dance-maker, composer and instrument designer Alisdair Macindoe to create and perform in the premiere of SYSTEM_ERROR. They are joined by data visualisation artist Melanie Huang, director Lucy Guerin and writer Emilie Collyer.

Centred around a custom-made technical system designed by Macindoe, SYSTEM_ERROR features hundreds of metres of electrically conductive tape across the performance floor that functions as a live mixing circuit. The performers act as conductors through the touch of their fingers hands and feet to trigger a soundscape as well as data visuals on a large projection screen.

Macindoe says:

Since a young age, I have always enjoyed creating new systems for communication and expression by deconstructing musical instruments and electronic devices. The sound design for this project is a continuation of that compulsion.

SYSTEM_ERROR contemplates the frailties and imperfections of humanity and interrogates the increasingly dependent and integrated relationship between people and technology.

Saulwick highlights that SYSTEM_ERROR is about the relationship between bodies and technology:

In the work, we are exploring a fascination with the inherent failings in all systems, whether they be biological or technological.

Chamber Made is led by Artistic Director Tamara Saulwick who has a career spanning more than 20 years and deep knowledge of cross-artform collaborative practice and creating sound-based works.

Alisdair Macindoe has worked across the contemporary dance scene as a critically-acclaimed performer, composer and sound designer. He has received multiple awards, including live Greenroom awards, a Helpmann and a New York Bessie.

Arts House Artistic Director, Emily Sexton, says that SYSTEM_ERROR is a fantastic fusion of art forms.

Sexton said:

For many years, Chamber Made has nurtured this very exciting pairing that builds on their extraordinary knowledge and practice. This beautiful tactile instrument seems like it has trapped two people inside a computer network as they contemplate memory, connection, relationships and mortality.

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