Mountain High River Flow

Project Leaders:

Aleksandra Dulic, Kenneth Newby

Reaserchers:

Rankine Suen, Laura Gourley, Oliver Szeleczk, Nadine Bradshaw, Michelle Wilmot

Features media artists Aleksandra Dulic and Kenneth Newby (interactive animated Chinese brush painting), Orchid Ensamble and composers Dorothy Chang, Ruis Shu Zhuo and Lan Tung; supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, and the SOCAN Foundation.

Video

This performance features stunning animation of panoramic moving images of China’s famous Huangshan (Yellow Mountain). Combined with live music performed on the cross-cultural instrumentation, the performance leaves the audience feeling as if they have stepped inside a Chinese painting that is coming to life all around them. The imagery, done in traditional Chinese brush-painting style, captures the ever-changing landscape atop the Yellow Mountain – the fast-moving sea of clouds, the unusually-shaped stones and pine trees, the white waterfalls and green ponds, and the singing birds– all moving in sync with the music. Software developed by media artist controls the video images with musical signals. As a result, the scroll acts as an instrument that allows the artists and musicians improvise together, co-creating the media image and transforming the ancient art forms. In keeping with ancient Chinese tradition, the works draw inspiration from the landscape to express humanity and emotions. Consistent with Chinese philosophy, the mountain and water also constitute all aspects of nature in two poles - yin and yang. The sense of breath that flows through all different forms of Asian arts – music, dance, painting, and calligraphy – is an unifying element between the different components of the project.

Presented at the Roundhouse Theater; 2012, Vancouver; 2011, and the University of British Columbia in Kelowna.