Shimmer is a new solo audio-visual live electronics performance by Tijs Ham, continuing my exploration of emergent processes. By using non-linear feedback loops, an unstable system is created that produces strange yet mesmerizing behaviors. Emergent sonic behaviors lie at the heart of the Shimmer performance.

The setup combines:

• a self-built electronic cello (based on piezo pickups under the bridge)

• a live electronics setup using a self-built modular (designed in KiCad)

• custom-made software (written in the audio programming language SuperCollider)

• lamp (which can be controlled using DMX)

• refractive objects (which move around using transducers on a vibrating plate)

Shimmer plays with the fuzzy transitions of signal and noise, chaos and order, foreground and background. Especially when the music becomes most volatile, unsuspected beauty appears out of nowhere. At first, the sounds and visuals appear scrambled and blurred. However, patterns shimmer through the noise as the performance proceeds, establishing sonic and visual behaviors. The visuals respond in a natural way to the sounds of the live electronics, as the refractive objects bounce and shake around in a manner that correlates to the sound without ever becoming predictable. In my artistic practice, these notions of balancing between chaos and order are a returning theme, and many of my prior works investigate the emergent properties of unstable systems.

Shimmer is supported by Bergen Kommune and AVGarde. The setup is developed at Kulturhuset Wrap and the Bergen Center for Electronic Arts (BEK). During several residencies, the hardware and software were created specifically for the performance.