At the intersection of technology, art and design, Mehmet (aka Memo) Akten’s work focuses on designing and developing technology to create emotional and memorable experiences. Founder of The Mega Super Awesome Visuals Company, his work ranges from large-scale immersive interactive installations; live visuals for music / dance / theatre performances, music videos; to online works and mobile applications.
Work: msavisuals.com
Experiments and blog: memo.tv
Reincarnation from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
www.msavisuals.com/reincarnation
Kids + Body Paint in the MSAV Lab from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
Fun times at the MSA Visuals LAB during Netil House open-studio day.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/memotv/sets/72157626660900720/with/5693233091/
http://msavisuals.com/body_paint
Simple Harmonic Motion from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
When I saw this beautiful video - http://j.mp/lxZfTY - I wondered what the sonic equivalent would sound like. The oscillation frequencies of each pendulum is described on the webpage so putting this demo together and keeping it accurate to the original video was relatively straightforward.
made in processing, using themidibus library to send midi to Ableton Live
source code at http://openprocessing.org/visuals/?visualID=28555
Also check out Steve Reich (e.g. most of his early work using 'phasing' - though technically what's happening in the video above is not exactly 'phasing'), Norman Mclaren (e.g. horizontal / vertical lines series), Gyorgi Ligeti (e.g Poeme Symphonique for 100 metronomes), and of course Ollie Williams from Family Guy http://youtube.com/watch?v=bg4-AtqhKh8
and many many more.
if the shortened link above doesn't work, try http://sciencedemonstrations.fas.harvard.edu/icb/icb.do?keyword=k16940&pageid=icb.page80863&pageContentId=icb.pagecontent341734&state=maximize&view=view.do&viewParam_name=indepth.html#a_icb_pagecontent341734
UPDATE: As an exercise in supercollider (which I'm just learning), i tried to recreate the audio element, and it sounds so much better (the timing is a lot tighter, unsurprisingly). Here is the code for that:
{o=0; 15.do{|i| o=o+LFTri.ar(138.59*(1.0595**(3*i)), 0, LFPulse.kr((51+i)/60, 0, 0.05, 0.1))}; o;}.play;
Note the sounds in the video above are NOT from supercollider. They are triggered from the processing sketch as midi notes sent to Ableton Live. The notes in the processing sketch are selected from a pentatonic scale. I wanted the supercollider code to fit in single tweet ( less than 140 chars), so I omitted the scale and instead pick notes which are spaced at minor 3rd intervals, creating a diminished 7th arpeggio. The base note is C#. Toccata and fugue in d minor anyone?
Blaze projection visualization excerpts from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
Excerpts from the projection visualizations for Blaze from point of view of the 'average' audience position.
Also check out excerpts from the live show (projected on the set with dancers) at http://vimeo.com/12789616
More info on the project at http://msavisuals.com/blaze_the_streetdance_show
Note: this is *not* the projector content, it is a simulation of what the audience sees. We used two very short throw (i.e. high lens distortion) projectors covering different parts of the set. The show went on tour of many venues, with different projector positions at each venue - often arriving at a venue in the morning, setting up and playing that evening, and loading out the same night - with no time for laborious content adaption / calibration. So all 3D mapping, calibration and geometry adjustments were done in realtime (even adjustable during live playback if need be). Each projector was fed dynamically rendered perspectives to be mapped extremely precisely onto the set using the realtime 3D mapping capabilities of the Mega Super Awesome Interactive Media Server Engine.
Blaze from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
Visuals for the west-end dance show BLAZE.
http://www.msavisuals.com/blaze
http://www.blazetheshow.com
The Times - "The aptly named Mega Super Awesome Visuals Company eventually makes selective use of every available surface as a screen upon which to project a dazzling variety of digital graphics, from animated landscapes and pulsating lights to oozing liquid and raging flames."
The Guardian - "Es Devlin's clever set, constructed from piles of boxes, cupboards, TV screens and doors, gives the dancers plenty of levels to move on, and, better still, functions as a three-dimensional screen on which the lighting and video team can project their most astonishing effects. A B-boy trio performing against images of melting snow acquire a rare luminous purity; Lizzie Gough (also a finalist from So You Think You Can Dance) becomes a fiercely demonic figure, conjuring a kaleidoscopic storm of flashing light."
Financial Times - "Here is the most blissfully energetic, sassy, to- hell-with-everything-except-street-dance show. And it is superbly designed by Es Devlin ... Devlin has, tremendously, placed the action against a wall of grey, office-equipment- suppliers’ drawers and the occasional ice-box and a single bath. These serve as background, exits, launching pads for dance. There is stunning lighting by Patrick Woodroffe and Adam Bassett, and amazing video projections."
Too Much Flavour - "the projection effects were sensational at extending the effect of the routines. Although the back wall of the theatre was an odd construction made up of what appeared to be stacks of drawers when lit fully, come time for those projections and the wall burst to life with action. Memo Akten and Robin McNicholas did an amazing job at putting it to use. One of its best uses was a solo from Lizzie Gough controlling a projected ball of light with her choreography making it a visual treat to watch."
The Arts Desk - "This is a show blazing with talent and young exuberance, and it will rejuvenate you faster than a Red Bull. "
Ballet.co.uk - "van Laast has the showman’s touch and ‘Blaze’ is brilliantly designed by Es Devlin with a backdrop of cases, trunks, storage boxes and even a fridge, apparently piled on top of each other from floor to ceiling and cleverly concealing platforms, a trampoline, and the potential for pools of light and access points. It also provided texture for the brilliant video design by the appropriately-named Mega Super Awesome Visuals Company – there’s no point in hiding your light under a bushel when you’re this good!"
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