In writing my Rhizome piece on multimedia performance at MUTEK 2009 I made a strategic omission. While the visual overload and watertight formalism of the raster-noton label showcase and the mechanical delight of Atom both made distinct impressions, it was Artificiel's POWEr that prompted the most visceral reaction I experienced at the festival this year. To be reductive, POWEr is electronic music in the purest sense. The project utilizes a custom made Tesla coil as the driving force in a dynamic musical performance. This concert was completely improvised and set out to explore the possibilities of using "electricity as a subtle but pressing instrument". Subtle is not the first word that comes to mind in attempting to describe POWEr as the Tesla coil device took up approximately half the stage and emitted violent arcs of electricity throughout the entire performance. The resulting crackling, buzz and uncanny sound of current became raw material with which Artificiel assembled on the fly electroacoustic sketches. In addition to modulating the electricity, "playing it" as if it were a rudimentary instrument, an array of cameras and microphones were used to collect and process the sound and images of the arcs. The concert was structured as a series of short vignettes in which Artificiel switched the focus between the device, their sound sketches and a range of simple but effective video sequences. These varying perspectives foregrounded different aspects of the electricity which moved and sounded so quickly that it was difficult to process in real time.

A cynic might dismiss POWEr as a one liner, but the performance was as much about time as it was about harnessing electricity. The previously mentioned recording devices were used to collect video and sound samples and this source material was reprocessed and abstracted moments, or minutes later. The audience watched with awe as the Tesla coil spat ever-evolving branches of electricity and Artificiel would then rework sounds sampled during a sequence. The focus would then shift to a projection screen that zoomed in on the minutiae of the arc and filters and compositing effects would highlight the uniqueness of each flicker and flash. The video offered a split screen viewport to index these electrical events down to the nanosecond and graphically in relation to negative space. The performance was riveting and it prompted the following observations:

• If you consider the entire concert, there was no explicit centre of visual focus - it was a lot of work to keep up with this piece. While Artificiel cycled between video, the device and their performance interludes the audience was left to triangulate an impression of what was going on. In some ways this use of video and scattered stage practice reminded me of Matmos but less bricolage and more "weird science".
• The manner in which POWEr utilizes raw electricity as an instrument most certainly gives the glitch aesthetic in techno and experimental music a black eye. Seeing Artificiel's Alexandre Burton and Julien Roy onstage operating this giant apparatus made most loop-based DSP driven experimental music seem conservative. The polite, cropped photos at the top of this post very safely document the most easily aestheticized aspect of the performance but seeing this device onstage blasting arcs of electricity was nerve wracking. Beyond this there was no real precedent by which to evaluate the musical performance, it was completely earnest, exploratory and captivating.
• Not a thought - a percept. I was sitting in the front row while POWEr was performed and by the end of the set I thought I smelled fruit. A person nearby was convinced that the smell was fresh strawberries. A little research suggests that this was in fact Ozone, which is often produced by Tesla Coils. I have not smelled anything but sweat, liquor or petulance at a show for a long time.

Aside from being impressed with Julien Roy's comments at a panel earlier in the week, I didn't know who Artificiel were before seeing and hearing POWEr. I can say with complete confidence that it was like no performance I've experienced before. You can learn more about Artificiel's earlier projects such as condemned_bulbes and cubing on their website - they also have a page documenting POWEr (which has limited information and some dark, grainy videos that do not do the project justice).

I almost didn't hear POWEr as I was going to duck out of that A/VISIONS event a little early - thanks to pals Peter Kirn and Aaron Meyers for convincing me to stick around.