A Cable Plays, 2008

Created in collaboration with Damian Stewart.

A Cable Plays is an audio-visual performance where two performers appear to be engaged in a strange game or ritual. As they take turns pinning bits of yarn across an arcane game board, an augmented video of their play-space reveals a world coming to life between the patterns.

The work was inspired by hidden rules between people, in the underlying mathematics of games, and the patterns and behaviors that can emerge from simple rule sets. In this performed narrative, the two players choices influence the audio and visual components. The piece opens with simple abstract organic shapes that resemble cells or nuclei that evolve into more complex forms and feedback. Rising complexity in both the visuals and audio eventually climaxes to a point where the players have no choice but to destroy their creation and leave their mystical world in ruin.

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Performances