Point Line Piano : a Free VR installation by Jarosław Kapuściński

Point Line Piano (2024) by Jarosław Kapuściński and the OpenEndedGroup innovates in the composition, performance, and reception of piano music through live graphic notation. It premiered in 2024 at ZKM | Center for Art and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany (the leading authority in digital and contemporary art that is deeply influential within the art world.)

Let the Bay Area premiere of this VR installation seduce you into an immersive visual and sonic universe in which you “paint” simultaneously in images and sound. 

Immerse yourself in Point Line Piano and interact with others and the interactive artwork not only with your ears, but also with your eyes and hands. By running your hand over the drawn lines, you can trigger notes and write them down. Complex visual geometries are created simultaneously.

In Point Line Piano, the controller in each hand becomes a virtual paintbrush with which you create your 3D visual and musical notations; at the same time, it represents the virtual lens through which you view and transform these notations. Depending on the scene you select (there are over a dozen to choose from), you can zoom in and out of the 3D images. moving your “musical notation” through the visual space that transforms and modulates the sound.

Step by step, you will become familiar with a strange new environment of spatial images, with their echoes of calligraphy, musical notation, architectural, and scientific diagrams. Let the audiovisual dance around you transport you to other worlds!

Point Line Piano enables a spatial and full-body experience of abstraction unlike any other medium, opening your ears and eyes to exciting new aspects of perception. The VR installation is a joint artwork by Marc Downie and Paul Kaiser (OpenEndedGroup) in collaboration with the intermedia Polish composer, pianist, and Associate Professor of Composition at Stanford University Jarosław Kapuściński. Eito Murakami provided the software for spatializing the sound.

——————————

Jarosław Kapuściński is an Associate Professor of Music at Stanford University, where he is also affiliated with the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures. His research focuses on intermedia composition, performance, and Japanese traditional aesthetics.

Kapuściński has received grants and commissions from numerous international organizations, including the National Endowment for the Arts, the Governor General of Canada, and Institut National de l’Audiovisuel (INA) in France. His works have been awarded prizes at festivals in Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United States, and have been presented at venues such as New York MOMA, Spoleto USA, EMPAC NY, Logan Center in Chicago, ZKM in Karlsruhe, Reina Sophia Museum in Madrid, WRO Media Biennale, Warsaw Autumn Festival, Creative Media Center in Hong Kong, Benz Arena in Shanghai, and National Art Centre in Ottawa.

In addition to his artistic work, Kapuściński has collaborated on scholarly websites about Japanese Gagaku music (gagaku.stanford.edu) and Noh Theater (noh.stanford.edu).

https://jaroslawkapuscinski.com/

Interactive Viewing Time

April 15 – 18 : 2-6 PM (20 minutes slots for two viewer) PLEASE RSVP

Location: Dresher Ensemble Studio, 2201 Poplar Street Oakland, CA United States