Egomonster is an attempt at a metaphorical psychoanalysis of a violinist on stage, carried out by means of interactive electronics. The project aims at examining and magnifying the emotional and technical labor that goes into live performance, by creating an intricate system of "obstacles and rewards" designed to bring out and expose the ego of the performer. The result is an abstract representation of the ego, as interpreted by the psychoanalytically inclined interactive electronics system, consisting of complex audio-visual objects, or as we see them, inner monsters. A monster may be either created by the process itself or deeply buried in the psyche of the violinist before being set free for the audience to see and hear. As it emerges, it is captured in a visual and acoustic space, where it acquires a voice, as it were, as well as body (3-D projected on a flat screen) and motion. Once it assumes this guise, the egomonster is confronted by the violinist.

The setup we are currently imagining is illustrated in the image. The performer (Maja) bares her soul by way of her instrument. The performance is perceived and analyzed by a max/msp/jitter patch (made by Liubo), which receives data from a wireless pickup microphone and from a video-camera, perpendicular to the line between the audience and a projection screen. Motion- and audio tracking data control the appearance, voice and fate of the egomonster. However the emobdiment of the egomonster is ultimately created by the real-time feedback and interaction between the performer and the electronics, which is realized by a dynamic network of influences. Thus, for example, pitch and motion tracking information may be used probabilistically to manipulate the size of the egomonster, to spin and irritate it, while color tracking, and sound volume and harmonic content may affect sound processing and synthesis parameters. Further, the output of the network can be fed back into another control input while at the same time the violinist reacts to the changes in her own way.

The goal is to dramatize a struggle between the performer and her monster and to create an interactive psychoanalytical experience through an elaborate interplay between sound, image and emotional and physical expression.

Props and equipment: We envision the performance in a dark or dim space with Maja wearing a couple of elwires (self-powered photoluminescent wires), to facilitate motion tracking. The image created by the glowing wires will, in some processed form, also be used as a visual counterpoint and complement to graphical synthesis presented on the screen (as a part or an antithesis of the egomonster). We plan to use a wireless pickup microphone for the audio tracking and live-processing, so that Maja has the freedom to move unrestrained.

Potential difficulties: Processing power might be difficult to come by. We will likely be able to use two laptops (one for audio and one for graphics and video) which will communicate to each other via ethernet cable. Ideally, however, we would use three computers, one doing video motion tracking, another audio tracking and processing and the third graphical synthesis and video mixing. We are thus very interested in the Arts School's towers and mobile road systems (Graeme, could you advise us?). We still need to work on optimizing the code (Luke could you help us with this?), but it is clear already that we will depend on multiple video/sound ins and outs.