WIFE: The grey ones
September 21, 2013 9:38 PM   Subscribe

"The Grey Ones," which premiered at TEDx SoCal in Long Beach in July 2011, is a performance piece by LA-based "illusory performance makers" WIFE and features music by Amon Tobin. Its description: "Inspired by ancient myth, organic matter, decay, and transcendence, The Grey Ones explores the use of projection mapping on moving bodies and statuesque and saintly gestures to tell a story of the beginning of time." More videos can be found at WIFE's Vimeo channel.
posted by Unicorn on the cob (12 comments total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Really fantastic thanks for that.
posted by Mei's lost sandal at 9:48 PM on September 21, 2013


I've been a Tobin fan for many years, but I just didn't like his last album. Am I alone in this?
posted by Brocktoon at 10:41 PM on September 21, 2013


I wasn't a big fan when I listened to it, but I can't say I gave it an intensive study.
posted by Going To Maine at 11:07 PM on September 21, 2013


Brockton: I definitely like the earlier jazzier sounds better (Bricolage being my favorite) but ISAM definitely has its moments. Better than Foley Room, IMO.
posted by aubilenon at 11:46 PM on September 21, 2013


My two favorite Tobin albums are ISAM and Permutation, but they're like completely different musicians.
posted by Foosnark at 6:47 AM on September 22, 2013


Great interpretation. Must be excellent live.
posted by fungible at 7:02 AM on September 22, 2013


Seeing ISAM live is a really immersive experience; I found listening to it to be far more enjoyable once I'd had a visual medium to associate it with, which is one of the reasons I find this particular video performance by WIFE to be so on point.

Tobin's ISAM is quite similar in many ways to Monolake's Ghosts, which I saw when it premiered live in Montreal. I was blown away by it, but likely wouldn't have been if I'd only listened to the music initially instead.

This type of minimal/ambient/dubtech stuff isn't for everyone, but seems to be highly adaptable to different interpretations, depending on the media it's combined with... I'd love to see what WIFE could do with some of Robert Henke's music, actually.
posted by Unicorn on the cob at 7:08 AM on September 22, 2013


About 2:37 in I went from Hmmm Cool to HOLY SHIT
posted by Potomac Avenue at 9:22 AM on September 22, 2013 [2 favorites]


I work at performing arts institution, and have seen some really impressive looking "projections onto dancers" work online, but its really hard for me to imagine seeing these in real life. i could be totally wrong, but something about seeing it online is probably taking away from the experience.

obviously, advanced projection has really grown up in the past few years, and when kinect-like sensors get better and more advanced, i can imagine theater and dance troupes really run with this stuff in amazing ways.

tldr > thank you.
posted by lslelel at 10:18 AM on September 22, 2013


That was fantastic. The spinning wheel thingy around 4:00 was my HOLY SHIT moment.
posted by mannequito at 11:24 AM on September 22, 2013


I thought the dancing and projections were pretty cool, but around 4 minutes or so it started to feel like the visual artists were just throwing everything they could think of in there without a lot of developmental thinking. The music I thought was mostly rather ham-fisted where it could have been subtle to greater effect.
posted by daisystomper at 9:51 PM on September 22, 2013


more "projection onto moving object" stuff https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lX6JcybgDFo
posted by lslelel at 11:56 AM on September 24, 2013


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