What do we teach our technology—and what does it teach us?
Without audience, stage, or in-person connection, artist Moses Sumney explored this question. He combined his song “Me in 20 Years” with lights, movement, and visual effects, to create ways for people to conduct their own experiences and to feel their own answers.
The audiovideo installation, technoechophenomena, came to life in an empty room in a former industrial plant. With people discovering surprising freedom from loneliness through totally unique, out-of-body experiences.
My ultimate goal is to have an emotional connection with people—to have people think of things in a way they haven’t before, either musically or just thinking to feel.
Connects with Kinects
This project was another collaboration between Sumney and Sam Cannon, who had previously experimented with the Azure Kinect’s body tracking for his performance video for Bless Me (Live from Home). In technoechophenomena, the artist worked with technologists to train the Azure Kinect DK so that each guest would have a totally unique experience.
And unique experiences won’t stop there. He’s since produced a feature length film, Blackalachia, a concert exploring humanity’s relationship with nature recorded in the isolated depths of the Blue Ridge Mountains. He hosted a pop-up screening event for the film in nearby Asheville, NC. His music has also been featured on the soundtracks of the HBO show Euphoria and the genre-bending Everything Everywhere All at Once, and he hosted Chance the Rapper for a dinner and song collab in Ghana.
Where will Moses Sumney’s momentum carry him next, and what will technology teach us through his art?
