In Anaphantasia, sound, gesture, and illusion merge into merge into one flowing form. Hand movements in air control invisible instruments, layered with gesturally controlled pre-constructed musical structures. Through this interplay, you are invited into a multifaceted space where composition, improvisation, and gestural storytelling blend.
What you hear may be spontaneous or meticulously planned. What you feel may be a direct action or a subtle misdirection. What you see may resemble playing an unseen instrument or sculpting sound in thin air. Everything is real, and yet, everything is crafted in your mind through controlled misdirection, creating a sonic mirage.
Here, music becomes gesture, gesture becomes music, and meaning flickers in between.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Anaphantasia explores the ground between live electronics, acousmatic listening, and perceptual illusion. It uses a real-time gesture-controlled set of instruments combined with pre-constructed musical fragments, blending malleable noise textures, structured composition, and gestural narratives.
Taking inspiration from the craft of mentalists (mental magic), the work plays with hidden cause and perceived effect, induces musical associations within the audience’s imagination.
The performer, using bare hands, enacts gesture-controlled instruments while in parallel recomposing fragments of their own music live, modulating layers, modifying density, and altering texture through a process of gestural orchestration. Gesture-controlled modulations suggest direct sonic causality.
Even pre-composed materials remain flexible, with chosen layers responsive to real-time gestures.
The performance shifts constantly between three personas:
- The reckless noise sculptor (wild, messy, indulgent sound exploration)
- The gourmet composer (crafting detailed layered structures)
- The emotional storyteller (an empathic approach, invoking direct connection)
Performed in Athens February-April 2025:
TV Control Centre Theater
Empros Theater
Π6 Performing Space