skoltz_kolgen August 17, 2006

Skoltz_kolgen is a plurimedia work cell based in Montreal, comprising dominique [t] skoltz and herman w kolgen. Rigorous and raucous creators,their artistic pursuits plumb the integral linkages between sound and image. Skoltz_Kolgen create liminal worlds that exist in the nebulous territory between inner and outer space. Penetrating the ephemeral skin between solid matter and the unsubstantiated, the intimate and the objective, their work conjures bewitched worlds that gestate betwixt accident and intent. This liminal quality bleeds into all aspects of Skoltz_Kolgen’s practice, from the conceptual to the technical, as they balance on the cusp of art and science. Liberated by digital media they simultaneously assume numerous positions, inhabiting a space between film, photography, audio art, and installation. Their synergistic practice encompasses expanded cinema, explorations of the subtle and visceral qualities of sound, and hybrid forms of digitally enabled synaesthesia. Architects of worlds that simultaneously inhabit us as we inhabit them, Skoltz_Kolgen inquisitively seek out the intimate material and ineffable substance of life.



‘FLÜUX:/TERMINAL‘ is a bipolar performance that skoltz_kolgen have named ‘Diptyque Rétinal’. As in all of their work, here their research has established a point of contact between sound and image. But ‘FLÜUX:/TERMINAL‘ pushes the dialogue between these two elements one step further: their performance creates a dramatic trajectory, fuelled by the panoramic tensions (left/right) between hearing and seeing.

‘FLÜUX:/TERMINAL' projects images on two screens in a parallel visual body of luminous particles: photographed or filmed images and wire frame displays. As stereophonic visual representations, the two screens are the alter egos of the audio, which is also divided in two. The sound sources (left/right) are desynchronized and propelled into separate channels: the left-hand channel excites the left-hand image; the right-hand channel excites the right-hand image. The image is distorted, bearing the marks that the sound imprints upon it, and becomes the fossil of the sound. A bipolar experience is therefore built by catalyzing the lines of tension between two independent but related audio and visual worlds. Their dissociation in one instance and their synchrony or symmetry in another establish space-times that fairly float in weightlessness. These suspended moments are succeeded by fresh charges of energy that are massive and intense. A new generation of meaning escapes: attraction and repulsion, interdependence at times, followed by struggle and conflict at others.

‘FLÜUX:/TERMINAL' is a living performance that evolves each time it is presented. In the same evolutionary spirit, the ‘FLÜUX:/TERMINAL' album transposes the performance in another environment. Skoltz_Kolgen give the audio cd a life of its own while reprising textures and sound microfragments from the performance and reconfiguring them, stripped of their visual aids. The result is more musical and minimalist, venturing beyond the raw, polarizedqualities of the performance.



asKaa is an interactive ecosystem inspired by vegetation. With this project, Skoltz_Kolgen have developed an evolving sound/image platform that reacts in real time to sonic influxes. Displayed on two gigantic projection screens, virtual plants can be seen in perpetual evolution, while simple impulses of sound randomly modify their developmental process as well as their environment. In performance mode, the installation will be amplified by the addition of guest artists. These artists, once immersed in the illuminated botanically themed setting, will assume the capacity to stimulate the evolving vegetation pattern with their particular style of sonic influxes. asKaa offers an exhilarating botanical space. Respecting the growth potential of the environment is key and the artists must strive to orchestrate their performances accordingly. Occasionally, it’s a game of silences and stop times, which figuratively reflects the breaths of the living installation.

www.skoltzkolgen.com

Official Website: http://recombinantmedia.net/events/skoltz_kolgen/