Deep Space Music
Deep Space Music is an immersive audio-visual performance that creates a direct dialogue between live piano and real-time generative visuals. Premiered at Ars Electronica Center's Deep Space venue, this collaborative work features renowned pianist Maki Namekawa performing alongside responsive digital projections that transform the 320-square-meter projection surface—including both walls and floor—into a dynamic visual environment. The performance leverages the state-of-the-art 8K projection system of Deep Space to create a multidimensional sensory experience where musical expression drives the evolution of abstract visual forms, establishing a unified perceptual field where sound and image exist as complementary expressions of the same artistic impulse.
Concept
This work explores the relationship between musical performance and visual form through real-time translation. By creating a system where piano performance directly influences digital environments, Deep Space Music reveals hidden patterns in musical expression and makes audible information visible. The visual language evolves through distinct scenes, each with its own aesthetic approach, collectively creating a journey that mirrors the musical progression while maintaining a cohesive artistic vision.
The performance highlights the creative potential that emerges when traditional musicianship meets computational creativity. Rather than treating technology as mere accompaniment, the visual systems become equal participants in the artistic expression—digital instruments being played alongside the piano. This creates a genuine dialogue between performer and visual environment, where each medium can both lead and respond to the other.
The venue itself plays a crucial role in the conceptual framework, with the immersive projection surface of Deep Space creating an environment that surrounds and envelops the audience. This spatial arrangement transforms the traditional concert format, inviting viewers to experience the performance not just as observers but as participants fully immersed in the audio-visual field.
Technical Details
At the core of Deep Space Music is a collaborative technical framework bringing together five creative coders, each contributing distinct visual engines that respond to different aspects of the musical performance. I developed custom software that functions as a visual instrument, analyzing incoming audio from Maki Namekawa's piano performance and translating different frequency ranges into visual parameters of generative algorithms.
The system employs Fourier transform with specialized filtering to isolate specific frequency components of the piano performance, allowing precise mapping between musical elements and visual parameters. What distinguishes this approach from conventional audio-reactive systems is the ability to modulate the response characteristics—adjusting attack, decay, and sensitivity to create visual responses that range from immediate and energetic to subtle and ambient. This creates a nuanced artistic interpretation of the sound rather than merely mechanical translation.
The technical implementation required careful consideration of the unique projection surface at Deep Space—an 8K resolution environment spanning both walls and floor. This demanded optimization strategies to maintain smooth performance while rendering complex generative visuals across the massive projection area. The visual engines were specifically calibrated to take advantage of this immersive canvas, creating environments that couldn't be experienced in conventional projection formats.
Throughout the performance, the visual language morphs between several distinct scenes, each highlighting different aspects of the musical interpretation through complementary visual approaches. These transitions mirror the musical development, creating a cohesive narrative arc that guides the audience through an evolving sensory experience.
Collaboration
Deep Space Music represents a genuine interdisciplinary collaboration, bringing together Maki Namekawa's exceptional piano performance with the creative coding expertise of a diverse team assembled by Candaş Şişman. As part of this team, I contributed to developing the visual language and technical framework that would respond to the musical performance while maintaining artistic coherence across different scenes.
The project emerged from Şişman's previous recognition at Ars Electronica, having received an honorary mention the previous year. This led to the invitation to create a new work specifically for the Deep Space venue, bringing together artists with complementary skills to push the boundaries of what was possible in this unique environment.
As the festival progressed, the performances gained increasing recognition, with each session drawing larger audiences than the last. The work established itself as one of the standout experiences of the event, demonstrating the powerful audience response to thoughtfully integrated audio-visual performances that balance technological innovation with artistic depth.
Credits
Art Direction & Visuals: Candaş Şişman, Deniz Kader
Creative Coding: Bager Akbay, Osman Koç, Zeynep Nal, Ismail Kasarci, Kaan Kaner
Piano Performance: Maki Namekawa
Venue: Ars Electronica Center Deep Space
Event: Ars Electronica Festival
Deep Space Music exemplifies the convergence of musical virtuosity and computational creativity, demonstrating how collaborative artistic approaches can create immersive experiences that transform traditional performance formats into multidimensional sensory journeys.