May Waves Rise From Its Floor
performance for custom 16mm film projector, candles, broken crystal | 45 minutes | 2018 - ongoing
Video excerpt from performance with pianist Anne Bourne.
An improvised performance piece for visuals and sound. Flickering candlelight influenced by Hallé's breathing, is focused with handheld pieces of broken crystal onto a video camera sensor, which becomes the light source that illuminates a 16mm film of an abstracted, ocean landscape.
The live music and visuals play off each other. Hallé’s barely perceptible hand gestures and his intentional breathing, spontaneously adapt and create the projected world of light and shadow, colour and movement.
Reviews:
"It was a flowing and mostly calm stream of images and music, developing in smooth transitions between barely-there penumbral shapes and bright sunlit images, and back again. Sometimes it felt like one's hazy vision on waking up; other times like multiple layers peeking through clouds. (...) It was a fascinating and innovative use of technology in the service of art." - Alayne McGregor (Ottawa Jazz Scene)
Previous performances:
- Ann Arbor Film Festival, with Chien-An Yuan on electronics and Jonathan Barahal Taylor on percussion, March 23, 2023
- PARTICLE + WAVE Media Arts Festival, Calgary, AB, with Chris Dadge on percussion, February 1, 2019
- Ottawa Art Gallery, Ottawa, ON, with Linsey Wellman on baritone saxophone, June 20, 2019
- Black House, Montréal, QC, with Jennifer Thiessen on viola d'amore, December 8, 2018
- PIX FILM Gallery, Toronto, ON, with Eschaton (Connor Bennett on saxophone/electronics and Aaron Hutchinson on trumpet/electronics/percussion/synths), December 7, 2018
- General Assembly, Ottawa, ON, with Linsey Wellman on baritone saxophone, November 30, 2018
Many thanks to Phil Schleihauf for creating the custom-electronics, and problem solving technical issues. And many thanks to Madi Piller for providing studio space and coordinating the Studio Immersion program. Hallé also gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Petman Foundation, the City of Ottawa, the Liaison of Independent Filmmakers of Toronto, PIX FILM and SAW Video.
