Flashing lights, blasting music and the words “Audio Pixel Collider” are plastered onto a wall of the B. Iden Payne Theatre as students and faculty prepare for the show.
The Audio Pixel Collider, an event that combines digital and physical arts with music, will happen at the on-campus theater on Thursday at 7 p.m. Taking up multiple rooms, the show will include VR installations, projections, live music and wooden arcade machines — all of which over 80 students from seven classes and one design team created.
With no admission fee, the Department of Arts and Entertainment Technologies organized the show to highlight original work from student DJs, installation artists and lighting designers.
“We should be supporting the young and up-and-coming artists,” said Kyle Evans, an assistant professor of practice who teaches Realtime Video Programming for the event. “These (students) are the next generation of artists, potentially, in our city.”
Lighting designer Alexander Le works in a three-person team, which includes a video jockey. They will work together to create visuals for a composer’s song.
“When it comes to group projects in general … collaboration is the most important,” said Le, arts and entertainment technologies senior. “If one person falls behind or doesn’t stay on track, then the whole thing can fall apart.”
Le’s team developed the sights for a song that combines two distinct genres: breakcore, featuring heavy and aggressive electronic cords, and classical. Le said he needs to manually execute 89 cues over the span of a few minutes to change the lights in real-time during his set.
“We’re trying to give (the song) a story, try(ing) to bring it out of itself,” Le said. “I’m gonna have to analyze what fits best with this song. So I am listening to that song on repeat, listening to every single little segment of it.”
Since being a video jockey for last year’s Pixel Collider, Le has begun a freelancing career, producing videos for multiple sets, like an anime convention in Costa Rica. But for many students, this is their first time on stage.
“Whether it’s the musicians, the visual artists or the lighting designers, they’ve never presented work in front of an audience,” Evans said. “We try to make it as exciting of an experience for them as possible and really celebrate their work.”
Evans said the rave gives students experience needed to start their careers. The students will have the opportunity to perform on stage with Urban Heat, a punk band from Austin, to see what it’s like to perform in the real world.
“It’s one thing to do (something) for a grade,” said assistant professor of practice Mk Haley, who teaches Interactive Installations and Event Management/Production for the event. “But to do a thing in front of two or 300 guests is big. It’s also celebratory. In the semester, we like to celebrate and take a look at what we did.”
