Audio visual canvas

Illuminen is your debut album Can you describe its theme and what prompted you to come out with it Illuminen is my attempt at the sonic articulation of my artistic expression it is the culmination of an idea that Irsquove been ruminating on for a few years and a natural progression of my recent projects I arrived here through various narratives most tracks on the album were conceived for live performances or installations they encapsulate my practice from past five years It features my vocals and other field and studio recordings Irsquove collected over the years It will be released as limited edition EP accompanied with an LPsized archival print and Irsquom thrilled that it will be a part of my solo exhibition in Mumbai Spinning Four 2012 Surabhi Saraf Live Audio Visual Performance What can we look forward to at the live audiovisual performance On Thursday Irsquoll be performing two tracks from my debut album Illuminen EP Through these performances my vision is to accentuate each sense ndash individually and in concert The first Spinning Four is a visually rich immersive sonic experience I use my vocals with multiplied sounds of an old mechanical fan The sound will be accompanied by large projections of the live videofeed of the fan to complement the soundscape The second Illuminen takes the audience on an inward journey negotiating the ideas of entertainment experience sensation and sensationalism Peel 2009 Surabhi Saraf Single Channel Video Installation with 51 Surround Sound You are also presenting your first solo exhibition at Galerie Mirchandani Steinruecke very soon Tell us about this Since this is my first solo show the exhibition will showcase some of my selected past works including the two videos from the series video choreographies called Peel and Fold along with a more recent video work titled Spinning Ten In addition wersquoll have the album Illuminen as well as prints from some of my live performances Finally I39m creating a brand new installation for the exhibition It is a sequel to the collaborative work Oscillations which was shown very recently at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco How long has it been since you have been living in San Francisco and how long are you going to be in Mumbai now Irsquove been based in San Francisco since 2009 having moved there right after my postgraduate studies at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago Irsquoll be in Mumbai until January 25 at which point I leave for Delhi where Irsquoll do another live performance at the Max Mueller Bhavan and then setup a video installation for the India Art Fair where Galerie Mirchandani amp Steinrucke is presenting my work You are a new media artist composer and performer who has also trained in classical music What does your interest mainly lie in What are the kind of works you would like to create using your experiences I primarily work in video sound installations and live performances I grew up in a very musicallyinclined family and took lessons in both music and dance as a kid growing up in Indore That upbringing along with my formal background in Painting MSU Baroda and Art and Technology SAIC Chicago has shaped my practice Irsquom a choreographer at heart concepts of movement and composition are central to my process Irsquom fascinated by the idea of transformation it is this moment when art happens for me I consider the idea of a fan or any other manmade objects for that matter as a creative act its takes in still air and transforms it to create wind my job as an artist is to take that initial creative act forward I do that with a diverse array of techniques such as repetition fragmentation and multiplication designing sequences of rhythmic movements creating multilayered structures of evolving patterns These ideas manifest themselves in my works whether it is video sound or performance all these forms and mediums inform one another to create a multisensory immersive experience Can you give us a background of some of the work you have done before At the Faculty of Fine Arts in MSU Baroda I tried to communicate music through my paintings Streaks in Eminor After college I experimented a bit with live performances audio installations NOMONOSOUND and videos and got interested enough in the medium to apply for an MFA Program The Art amp Technology program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago SAIC gave me the exposure and resources to takes my experiments further with videos and add a more immersive layer of surround sound to the videos Peel Spinning Ten And sometime after graduation my videos led me back to live performances FOLD Live experimental sound and installations Oscillations Along the way there have been many rewarding collaborations I encourage your readers to check out my website httpsurabhisarafnet for more details On Today 630 pm At Max Mueller Bhavan Kala Ghoda Log on to surabhisarafnet Exhibition at Galerie Mirchandani Steinruecke Jan 23 to Feb 28