Artist Statement

The first performance of “VirtualAERI” was given in 1997 at IRCAM’s Espace de Projection, in Paris, France. The second version “VirtualAERI II”. was written in 1998. It consisted of four sections, each of which dealt with a different kind of space, large, medium and small. The form is intentionally simplified, like the succession of “block type” sections. The static sections anticipate with the kinetic sections always following. These are abruptly alternated in this piece. This idea of form was originally experimented with in a previous composition. In this composition it is evolved to further possibilities. The mechanical textures are superimposed one onto another. At the same the this creates poly tempo. In each section the texture starts in one shape then gradually transforms into another. Not only in the sections, but also within the whole piece, the overall phase gradually transforms and intensifies. Virtual instruments, or controllers, cannot produce sounds by themselves. They merely send signals that produce sounds by means of a computer or a sound module. They may be regarded as an interface between the performer and the computer insofar as they translate the energy derived from body movements into electrical signals. At the same time however, they allow the performer to express complex musical ideas. With the help of a controller, a tiny gesture can trigger any number of complex musical passages at one and the same time in a real time context, whereas a traditional instrument can produce only a limited range of sounds.

•  Suguru Goto is a Japanese composer and a multi-media artist. He started his career in a contemporary music scene. His recent works involves new technologies in experimental performing art. He invented Virtual Musical Instruments, which are the interfaces between gesture of human and a computer. Sound and video images are controlled by Virtual Music Instrument with computers in real time. He has been internationally active and has received numerous prizes and fellowships. His compositions have been performed in major festivals, such as Tanglewood Music Festival, Sonar, CiCV-Les Nuits Savoueuses, ICC, Electrofie, International Theater Festival Berezillia, SWR-Fadnation Musik, Les Rencontres Internationales Paris Berlin, Haus der Kultures der Welt – Heimat Kunst, and Inventionen ’94 etc.