My Self in That Moment

Featuring solo soprano voice accompanied by an ensemble of 49 tablet devices, My Self in That Moment is a compelling exploration of the fragmented and distributed self in the digital age. Led by Chamber Made Artistic Director Tamara Saulwick, the elements of live performance, spatialised sound, and screen-based visuals come together in this unique intersection of the human and the technological.

The audience is at first immersed in a haunting sound world where they witness the gradual reveal of a disquieting installation of screens, the image of the performer is built, distorted and dismantled. From here, they move to an intimate in-the-round performance where the relationship between vocalist and tablets, between person and image, body and utterance unfolds in a series of complex and hypnotic sequences.

The astonishing sound world for My Self in That Moment, created by composer and sound artist Peter Knight, is built entirely from the singing, sounding and speaking human voice of our three featured collaborating vocalists Tina Stefanou (Australia), Jessica Aszodi (Germany) and Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (Taiwan). Scored, processed and distributed across the moving constellation of 49 digital tablet speakers, the voices become disembodied and dispersed. 

Steve Berrick has developed a system where personal devices in the form of tablets are networked to function as a visual and sonic ensemble, opening up exciting possibilities for the spatialization of image and sound. My Self in That Moment also incorporates a rich visual language developed for the piece by photographer Sarah Walker and designers Amelia Lever-Davidson and Geoffrey Watson. 

My Self in That Moment is an affective meditation on the ever-multiplying archive of the self, a ritual of endless construction and deconstruction, a disturbing and effecting portrayal of the fragmentation of our enmeshed digital existence. Chamber Made has a reputation for bringing performance, sound and music together in surprising ways. My Self in That Moment takes the company’s hybrid experimentation to a new level.

★★★★ ‘captivating and utterly original’ ARTS HUB

‘My Self at That Moment opens up crucial areas for reflection, especially at a time when the digital self has become a proxy for the real … Voice and image become increasingly distorted through replication, imitation, pixelation, multiplication, looping and fragmentation. The voice is layered and transformed in impossible ways. Images of her physical body are eventually eroded, until all that remains are fragments of a former self.’ THE CONVERSATION

★★★ ‘a daringly experimental performance by Chamber Made that’s both intriguing and alienating.’ LIMELIGHT

 

‘Fascinating, highly artistic and futuristic.’ MILK BAR MAG

Events

Substation Season July 2022

My Self in That Moment Program

Awards

• Finalist, Award for Excellence in Experimental Practice, APRA AMCOS Art Music Awards

This work has been developed in partnership with The Substation and Experimenta, with support from The Besen Foundation, Playking Foundation, and The Australia Council for the Arts.