HYDRA - Research

HYDRA is a proposal for a sound-driven real-time “video collage” inspired by (and designed for) Pauline Oliveros’ ensemble Tintinnabulate.  Beyond the Greek myth, there are two 20th-century sources for the HYDRA concept. 2007 marks the 100th anniversary of the Pablo Picasso/Georges Braque invention of Cubism. These two men, painting (essentially) for an audience of one – each other – developed their radical re-figuring of the picture plane via an intense daily dialogue, much in the manner of the geographically unconfined Tintinnabulate.  They do not perform for audiences (yet), and in that sense they are New York’s Picasso, to California’s Braque – experimenting behind closed doors. HYDRA will make audience-centered performances more lively and engaging. Imagine a group of musicians playing, their audio driving (in real time) a (pulsating and distorted) many-headed, armed and legged dancer projected on video screens.

This project was funded in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts.

Principal Investigators:

• Pauline Oliveros, Distinguished Research Professor of Music
• Michael Oatman, Visual Artist and Clinical Associate Professor

More information about Pauline Oliveros
    MySpace
    DeepListening.org
    Rensselaer Arts Department