Scherzo is a generative music film commissioned by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and featured at Prix Ars Electronica (Linz Austria) as well as The Liverpool Biennial. It explores the limits of human virtuosity and the convergence of human and machine. Energetic textural and melodic fragments were recorded by cellist Rubin Kodheli, whose performance was filmed from ten different camera angles (cinematographer, Andrew Federman). In the video installation these fragments are recombined on the fly by a computer algorithm to create an infinitely extended musical climax. The virtuoso’s desire to achieve machine-like speed and endurance is realized in both exhilarating and disturbing dimensions as the classical logic of preparation, climax, and denouement is replaced by a technologically hyper-charged present.
The video above is a short excerpt. The video installation is of infinite duration.