Batmakumba
Batmakumba is a recording of a collaborative live video performance, developed by Mac McKean, Talita Miranda and Jose Hinestrosa, and performed by Mac and Talita with singer Karina Zeviani.
Visual effects are done in Max-Msp-Jitter and respond to changes in the audio and to the input of the performance team. The song "Batmakumba" (1968, Gilberto Gil e Caetano Veloso) has a sound structure that maps to an inverse pyramid: its textures become increasingly simple and then increasingly complex. We intended to take this hidden structure and employ it in a visual representation of the song, using it both to determine the structure of the video and the texture of the video. In other words, the song structure, the visual texture and the visual structure all reflect the same hidden or implied reverse pyramid. In the second half of the song, we closed the loop of manipulation, altering the audio texture itself so that it responds to the video texture. Most experiments with direct visual-audio interaction allow audio (such beat or volume) to modify or create the work's visual component. In this case, we have established an audio-visual feedback loop, with each element impacting the other. We go one further sending this feedback loop through a hidden form, the inverse pyramid, which further informs the output. This work gives musical and visual form to non-physical abstractions.
Click here to view the lyrics to the song and commentary in Portuguese.