Live Performers Meeting is not an ordinary festival - it is a meeting: a crowd of folks from different parts of our planet come to see old friends and find new ones and show their weird, experimental or commercial-but-loved visuals and sounds.
I discovered the festival in 2014 and was first coming as a visitor. This year I cannot believe that I became part of this family, making my first live projection and presenting it in Rome.
me on stage
The festival is incredibly inclusive allowing people without experience to play their first gig on the same stage with professional artists. And this mixture of levels becomes fruitful. I witnessed spontaneous association of artists - a vibe that is often difficult to achieve - when you just bring your machine and make a piece on the flight to add to somebody’s performance, or when a musician approaches you and together you create an improvised visuals for the music.
Guys improvising music by touching and Maya painting with light @ Kiss Collection installation by FondAnt
Katya and her magic box
Another magic thing was the jam on Saturday. Samuele, the guy at the video-mixing console, told me: “Look, this is the true LPM - one is bringing an overhead projector, one is connecting a huge external video card to a laptop, somebody else opening a box full of objects and sets up the camera - all preparing to throw images at the screen” cooperatively, with consideration for each other. I was excited and was crossing the line between the spectator and artist, went around to intervene into other peoples set ups looking for a way to also participate in the making of images on the screen (not having my own laptop that day). This crossing of boundaries is precious and we should all be looking for technical, artistic and social ways to expand this flux between the roles of the viewer and creator - only then our art will truly be interactive.
Saturday Jam
I am incredibly grateful for this opportunity of being on stage and receiving applause and love and appreciation from other artists. I am encouraged and inspired. Thanks LPM, see you next year!
