This weekend, the Houston Symphony is bringing virtual reality technology into the concert hall, allowing audience members to see music in ways beyond their imagination.
As the orchestra, led by guest conductor Ming Luke, plays light classics such as Debussy’s “Clair de Lune” and Saint-Saëns’s “Carnival of the Animals,” the Austin-based artist Topher Sipes will use Tilt Brush, Google’s virtual reality painting app that recently transitioned to an open-source project, to translate the sprightly tunes into life-sized works of art by way of structured improvisational, full-body movement.
In her search for a collaborator, Sabol was referred to Sipes, who had won the inaugural Tilt Brush competition presented by Originator Studios in 2016, after which he facilitated various Tilt Brush performances and installations, including one for Smartcar during South by Southwest.
The canvas serves as his dance floor, so to speak - a concept that is far from new to him. In 2011, Sipes co-founded ARTheism, an immersive dance company for which he projected motion graphics that he drew using a digital drawing tablet or a multi-touch screen onto performers such as his partner Samantha Beasley.
“This, to me, is like ‘Fantasia’ in real time,” says Lesley Sabol, the Houston Symphony’s director of popular programming.
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