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T.A.P. (But don’t Touch)

April 26 -30, 2018
Location: Palace of the Arts, San Francisco CA
 Jesse Garrison, Trey Gilmore, Nathan Shaw, Madeline Falcone, Ajay Kapur

The Installation project is an experiment in audience interaction both IRL and online. Projection mapping and visualization technology generate signals, which trigger waves of ever-changing colors cast onto a Porsche model—which becomes the canvas. The colors shift in real-time, in response to visitors’ physical distance from the vehicle itself, as well as social media users’ engagement with tags related to the project (#Porsche, #CalArts, and #ifsowhat).

 

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KarmetiK Orchestra

KarmetiK Orchestra is a collection of emerging LA artists from global backgrounds creating contemporary music. Sitar, Hindustani vocalists, tabla, and bansuri flute performers are mixed with Western classical, African, and electronic musicians. Directed by Dr. Ajay Kapur, Head of Music Technology at CalArts, the group features compositions and performances by world renowned artists Gaayatri Kaundinya, Rajib Karmakar, Dr. Neelamjit Dhillon, Ashwin Vaswani, Chris Votek, Yeko Ladzekpo-Cole, Madeline Falcone, and Dr. Sanjay Sinha.

Bombay Rebels is a homage to a group of luminary figures who have challenged the norm of Indian culture and forged new pathways. Each song commemorates a “Bombay rebel” with an original work, inspired by their journey, and explores blending different genres within Indian Classical aesthetics

 

Tulna तुलना


By Ajay Kapur, Ph.D.

Presented at LACMA in Feb 2023 as part of the Art Coded Exhibition

Comparison as discovery, equity, and morality, is the main inspiration for Tulna.  When we make comparisons between two or more expressions, we discover the differences and similarities between them. This piece explores a dichotomy between wood and metal, traditional and modern, simplicity and complexity.

Comprised of natural materials, the components are used in mechanical, analog, and electrical ways. The juxtaposition between the colors is chosen to reflect the metals used in the piece’s inner workings. Motors are used to spin two dimensions of the canvas, while also spinning mechanisms on the piano to brush the strings. Solenoids are used in a “butterfly effect” to tap the strings in conjunction with the motors. The conversation between the piano and the painting is meant to evoke questions around the idea of comparison and force viewers to try and uncover the robotics behind them. Thank you to California Institute of the Arts Music Technology program students for their assistance in building the piano over the years: Eric Heep, Daniel Reyes, Jason Jahnke, and Luisa Pinzon with lifetime mentorship from kinetic sculpture artist Trimpin.

 

INAAYA

Composed by Ajay Kapur in 2018

Isaura String Quartet + KarmetiK Machine Orchestra

Andrew Piepenbrink, Ben Tillotson, Jasna Gara, Kai Luen Liang, McLean Macionis, Nathan Ho,
Nathan Turczan, Oliver Jung, Raaginder Singh Momi

Performed at REDCAT @ Walt Disney Concert Hall Complex, October 24, 2018

Inaaya means “gift from God”. This piece is dedicated to my newborn son, Kiyan Deyva who
has brought light in times of darkness. This piece is based in Raga Bhairavi and written for the
KarmetiK Machine Orchestra, the Isaura String Quartet, and Lydia (Mechatronic String Contraption)

 

THE MACHINE ORCHESTRA

The KarmetiK Machine Orchestra brings together custom-built robotic musical instruments and human performers with modified instruments, unique musical interfaces, and hemispherical speaker-pods. The ensemble combines KarmetiK’s international lineup of artists and musicians with students in the Music Technology & Technical Direction programs at the California Institute of the Arts. In an acclaimed inaugural performance, The KarmetiK Machine Orchestra premiered on January 27th 2010 at the REDCAT Walt Disney Concert Hall in downtown Los Angeles, co-directed by music director Ajay Kapur and production director Michael Darling.

The California Institute of the Arts premiere of the Machine Orchestra took place on May 13th 2010 in the Modular Theater located on the Valencia, CA campus. Two new musical sculptures, five new pieces, and many new musical interfaces were unveiled during the sold-out show. Produced by students in the Music Technology & Technical Direction programs at CalArts, the show also featured special guest performer Trimpin.

In August 2010, Machine Orchestra traveled to New Zealand, performing in Auckland and Wellington. The Machine Orchestra was also hosted at the 01SJ Biennial Digital Arts Festival in San Jose, California in September 2010. Machine Orchestra also headlined at at Pulse Festival in Savannah Georgia in March 2012.

The ensemble has collaborated with composers, performers, choreographers, and digital artists including: Trimpin, Curtis Bahn, Tomie Hahn, Raakhi Kapur, Ustad Aashish Khan, Nyoman Wenten, Perry Cook, Meason Wiley, Charlie Burgin, Jordan Hochenbaum, Owen Vallis, Jim Murphy, and Dimitri Diakopoulos.

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KARMETIK UNDERGROUND

Sonically combining the east, the west, the above and the below, the KarmetiK Underground is religiously infusing packed dance floors with live acoustic and electronic groove. The Underground cleverly creates an ethnically diverse musical tapestry, often incorporating traditional instruments from India with state of the art synthesizers, samplers, and sequencers. As part of the creative process, songs are conceived from within the emotional spectrum and given life through a hybrid medium of electrorganic sounds. Allowing the listener to fully explore their musical mind and body while getting down and dirty doin’ it.

In April 2006, the Underground began performing bi-weekly at Central Bar and Grill, Victoria B.C. Summer of 2006 brought tour many places including Vancouver, the Gulf Islands, Oregon, Humboldt County and San Francisco, California.

Primarily a quartet, the KarmetiK Underground is also constantly exploring the collective musical experience through improvised jamming with a plethora of guest musicians. The music is kept fresh for both listener and performer as it takes on a form derived from the present with little predetermined length or finite structure. The KarmetiK Underground is determined to spread love like wild fire; helping the world dance one step at a time!

Each member brings their own unique background to the stage, each infusing a sound to create a diverse emotional atmosphere. The rhythm section consists of a dynamic duo that taps an electro-tribal infused groove — the melody makers glide over the top of the beat using harmonies produced by guitar and synthesized astro-phonics.

Included within this western approach to making music the KarmetiK Underground has great respect for North Indian Classical Music. All members have studied under masters in India, bringing back their eastern influence to fuse with worldly organic dance music. Instruments such as Sitar, Tabla and Santoor are commonly integrated into the performance bringing a sense of history & culture to the dance floor.

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SAMSARA

Samsara comes from the traditional Sanskrit word used to denote the cycle of birth, life, death, and reincarnation. Within the KarmetiK Machine Orchestra, Samsara is our own story of rebirth as told by the musical interpretations of several traditional Indian fables; this story premiered at REDCAT in the Walt Disney Concert Hall for two nights on April 12th and 13th, 2012.

Hindu philosophy embraces the concept of reincarnation as a way to learn, grow, and evolve. Samsara pulls ancient Sanskrit fables from the Panchatantra which reflect on classic dilemmas of morality. These fables often use a mixture of humans and animals in each story. Samsara is uniquely positioned to use the inventions of the Machine Orchestra to perform these stories in a novel, unconventional way.

Culture, society, time, and especially ingenuity are all core traits in the evolution of music. With Samsara, old stories can be embraced in a new format combining music, dance, theatre, and technology. The boundaries of these traditional fables will be extended with some of the most important advancements of the 21st century: robotics in the form of electromechanical musical instruments. At present, Samsara is the result of 14 months of work with 10 humans and 10 musical robots working to bring the fables into our modern age. Speakers, robots, dancers and live musicians will surround and immerse the audience to create an environment where these stories are told.