To Sense the Sea: Haptics collaboration with Not Impossible Labs and the Museum of the Moving Image
Weaving multichannel sound, haptics, video, scent, and story, To Sense the Sea is a shared expedition to a secret world where industrial fallout and future technology fuses with nature and new dreams are born. The story tells of nature reclaiming a vessel, simultaneously moved and made still with resonance and vibration, and The Bilge Siren who serenades the beautiful rusting depths and caverns to awaken steel and heal her rifts. From the city, to a secret ship, and out to sea where waters are still wild and free, this immersive journey takes the audience on an experimental quest seeking new ways of sensing and celebrating how we are all connected.
Working with Not Impossible Labs and the Museum of the Moving Image to realize this visionary vibrotactile project has been a dream come true on so many levels at once. After being invited to be one of the first artists working with Not Impossible Labs / Music Not Impossible’s new Creators Network I had the opportunity to build and premier one of the most inspiring, challenging, deeply collaborative, rewarding and boundary smashing artistic projects of my life in a museum showcase that pushed me to grow and create far beyond my previously perceived boundaries. Nothing is impossible when working with humans like these.
Half of the audience was from the deaf and hard of hearing community, and half of the audience was hearing. Not Impossible and the inaugural Creator Network I was invited to be part of brought these communities together through art, science, and creative technology at the Museum of the Moving Image for a historic shared experience powered by Not Impossible’s vibrotactile suits and vibrational compositions we created for the haptic suits. My partner Paul Geluso and I created and performed live music and haptics with percussionist William Ruiz in a site-specific multisensory immersive theatre piece called To Sense the Sea (featuring a short film, 3D immersive spatialized soundscape, storytelling, scent, costumes, and custom multichannel convolution reverb we created to transport people to a very special ship). With my collaborators and ASL interpreters Amber Galloway-Gallego and Kelly Kurdi I was able to share my art and heart with people across language and sensory barriers while people felt the vibrations of my voice in haptic suits they were all wearing. Among other ways Paul Geluso and I decided to use the haptics, I had the incredible opportunity to physically move people with my voice while singing about sensing the sea and erasing the space between us.
Endless thanks to Ashley Garner for videography and catalyzing my relationship with Not Impossible, to Paul Geluso, Daniel Belquer, Lesley Onstott and Sophie Oreck (my unstoppable powerhouse sisters), makeup artist Richard Pozo, ASL interpreters Amber Galloway-Gallego and Kelly Kurdi, MC Aarron Loggins, everyone at the Museum of the Moving Image, and shouts to scratch master DJ Robbie Wilde, Audiolux, Myles de Bastion, Adam Demorest, and Mick Ebeling for starting this amazing company. And a very special thanks to Lindsay Arden for the ship and her grit and determination. That is, after all, what it’s all about.
@notimpossible @zappos #musicnotimpossible #feelthefutureofsound #explorehapticsinthehearts #movingimagenyc #catalystlabs #catalystsunite #immersiveartist #ToSenseTheSea
