SOLENOID
Transported into the world of the musical via robotics, spectators are encouraged to create choreography for eight tap dancing shoes. Intriguing and stimulating.
Fleet of Foot
An inviting, surprising approach to dance. In the interactive installation SoleNoid, eight tap dancing shoes placed on a machine bedecked with wires kickoff like hoofers in a Busby Berkeley musical. Through the combined magic of computers and machinery, the shoes spring to life in a symphony of rhythms and taps that make you want to tap your feet. The performance lasts only a few minutes. Invited to take a seat at the control panel, adventurous spectators can reinvent the piece, as the 16 switches at their disposal trigger short sequences of sound and movement with which to create a new composition.
Mixing the real and the virtual via robotics, the British visual artist Peter William Holden evokes the perfection and complexity of the universe, simultaneously sculpting space and time in this intriguing and stimulating blend of play and meditation.
Sound and Light, Art and Technology
Peter William Holden’s works all employ robotics, an eight-branch mandala structure, pneumatic valves triggered by a computer and an air flow system for movement. Before the tap dancing of SoleNoid, umbrellas in AutoGene were mounted in a circular pattern and joined by air hoses and electrical cables to a small computer, and danced to Singing in the Rain. The installation Arabesque is a gigantic mechanical flower made of plastic arms and legs that move and sway to The Blue Danube. In Nelumbo metal flowers respond to noises from the surrounding environment.
AN INTERACTIVE INSTALLATION BY PETER WILLIAM HOLDEN
ORIGINAL COMPOSITION MARKO WILD / PHOTOGRAPHIC DOCUMENTATION MEDIAL MIRAGE / MATTHIAS MÖLLER
CO-PRESENTED BY PLACE DES ARTS
PREMIERED IN 2009
WRITTEN BY FABIENNE CABADOTRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
PETER WILLIAM HOLDEN (LEIPZIG)
SOUND AND LIGHT SERVICES
Revenge of the Nerd
Peter William Holden’s precocious fascination with technology is due perhaps in part to the highly industrial environment of his home town in northern England.
