PROJECT : An Elemental Expedition
CLIENT : National Gallery of Canada & Cheng2
ROLE : Concept, story, multimedia direction
PRODUCTION : Normal studio, Ulysse del Drago
MOTION DESIGN : Max Roux
- This show is an immersive audio-visual discovery of five musical works interpreted by Silvie Cheng at the piano and Bryan Cheng at the cello, as well as of several famous Canadian paintings, revealed live on a
- 3-screen stage setting. Each piece of music originates from a different region of Canada, inspired by the natural richness and beauty of landscapes, featuring typical characteristics and natural elements of each region. We travel through colours textures, landscapes from the east to the west of the country, through forests, mountains, raw nature, mines, fire, waters, and the cold north. The visuals echo the music: the paintings come alive, animated in synch with the piano and cello.
- The show is divided in 5 acts: prairies, west, central, north, Atlantic.
- I. PRAIRIES, WIND, SKY – HORIZON by Vincent Ho
During this first movement, we question the perception of the work by
Pascal Grandmaison. At the beginning, we hide his film in the flat horizon lines of the Prairies. The compressed horizon lines appear randomly during the performance, echoing the music, gradually building and revealing the full landscape.
The second movement, inspired by Riopelle, is a computer generated abstract painting, using the sounds of the cello to create strokes and the piano to create splashes. The layers dynamically overlap on the digital canvas to create the painting.
- II. WEST, EARTH, MOUNTAINS- FROM THE PACIFIC TO THE MOUNTAINS by Rodney Sharman
Discovering 4 paintings by artists featured at the National Art Gallery: Allen Harding Mackay, Lucius O'Brian, Lawren Harris and Bell Smith. The paintings are revealed through camera movements and effects, transitioning from extreme close-up, pixelated surface, to wide shot.
Through the technique we question the relationship with our perception and our memory. Rising in the air, the mountains reveal some parts of the earth’s history. What’s inside the earth comes to the surface to reach the sky. How are our memories stored and retrieved? Are ideas like mountains, emerging from our memories and taking the shape of mental imageries? At what moment our brains recognize the familiar shapes of a masterpiece? What is the role of digitalization in the preservation of our memories ?
- III. CENTRAL, FIRE, METAL – ARCADIA by Jordan Pal
Using motion design and 3D objects combined with Burtynski's footage, we evoke the transformation of nature by men, the evolution of environment. We discover raw nature, mines, silver and gold nuggets, oil sands, lava and metal. We dive into the element of metal, to discover its physical structure, build up of polygones and liquid reactions…
- IV. NORTH, ICE, FIRE – FROST UNDER FIRE by Carmen Braden
This act is inspired by the work of Isaac Julien, the films from the Artless Collective and Park Canada. A dialogue is created between our 3 screens: each scene shows a different point of view, a different moment in
time, creating perceptual interstices, letting the viewer’s imagination
fly through these unknown territories. The music echoes in contrastful textures, temperatures, and monochrome environments.
- V. ATLANTIC, WATER – WATER FLOWS SERPENTINE by Derek Charke
This musical work is divided into 4 movements, each one features pieces of Edward Burtynsky's films, studies of water flows.
From massive, slow waterfalls, strong and playful river currents, to the vastness and deepness of the ocean, we assist a visual choreography, where currents dance in harmony with music notes, supported by a dynamic editing between 3 screens.
