We consider visual music to be too close, so we just sat back and waited.
This brilliant phrase was created by David Tristram, and it sums up an important aspect to performing graphics.
Music optional is a way to allow us to see a graphic performance that has its own rhythms and structures. It’s not just a vuzak at a dance club, but a second fiddle to the techno beat.
Literature: Performing graphics silentio
The music began, and it was music without sound. They cannot hear the drums, fifes, and horns of other earthly bands. A number of Mahars make up the “band”. It performed for about fifteen to twenty minutes, before it moved out of the arena.
Their technique consisted of waving their tails and moving in a series of measured movements. This created a cadence that pleased the Mahar’s eye, just as our instrumental music does to our ears. The band sometimes took slow steps to one side or another, moving their heads in a series of measured movements. It all seemed silly and meaningless to my eyes, but the Mahars upon rocks displayed the first signs of enthusiasm I have ever seen from the dominant Pellucidar race. Their great wings beat up and down and they smashed their perches with their powerful tails until the ground shaken. The band began another piece and everything was back to normal. This was the beauty of Mahar music. If you didn’t like a piece being played, all you had was to close your eyes.
– Edgard Rice burroughs, Pellucidar (1922)
For God’s sake, Mo works silent! He is the only artist performing at Veli’s currently and one of a few graphicists running Silentio throughout the entire SF Bay.
The audience is seeing a whole field full of sproing slinkyspirals right now. The spirals are distant ancestors of originals, and have now become rainbow-colored, colors that pulse to the infectious visual beat. There are a few people moving to the beat at the back of my club. You can even dance to that beat!
Mo’s performance would be a hit with Oskar Fishinger, I believe. This homie is following the Fish’s example. He’s creating motion, sharing process, and flying at the speed visual creation. The audience was fully on board, cheering Mo’s graphic beats.
The Glossary
silentio – A graphic artist who performs without any accompanying audio. It is rare and extremely difficult to achieve the silentio style. Graphicists use rhythmic sounds to highlight visual rhythms in their images.