Ei Wada is a Japanese artist/musician. This year at Ars he gave probably one of the best performances at the festival. Wada's band is composed of him and a set of old Braun tube televisions, of the type that nowadays you see dumped in the trash.
Using these tube televisions and a hacked videocassette deck Wada translates visual patterns into sound. He plays sets of VHS tapes which produce the visual patterns and uses his hands to trigger the sounds from the old TVs. It's a authentically home-made Theremin-tech-percussion system that is at the same time loud and mesmerizing. In his performance, the artist taps the televisions' screens, producing percussive sounds that are combined with his sampled image rhythms.
Wada's raw setup –wires, old TVs and videocassette decks add to the piece a strong DIY aesthetic. It doesn't look finished and doesn't feel polished. On the contrary it's clear that Wada has made the system himself
from toying with electronics.
Subscribe to
feed