THIRD LAW Live
Third Law Live is a collaboration between Roly Porter and Marcel Weber.
They first worked together on the CTM festival commissioned “Akheron Fall” and later on the Unsound/Werkleitz commission, “Dream Cargoes”. “Third Law”, Roly Porter's third solo album, was released on January 2016 on TriAngle Records.
The performance is a contemplation experiencing the world through devices and gadgets, remotely through a thick layer of technology. In which the mere concept of reality becomes "augmented" and ultimately merges with VR.
A new era in which the physicality of the human body and its senses no longer determine perception. Phones globally connected, cameras seeing spectra invisible to the human eye and satellites traversing the solar system for centuries - without sleep, non-stop, in an infinite motion.
The Third Law might very well be the only visual performance played by its performer with closed eyes (in parts)!
It was shown in many places in Europe and North America with great acclaim; i.e. at CERN in Switzerland, Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels, Berlin Atonal's Kraftwerk or at the HEARN, an enormous former power plant in Toronto.
PRESS ON "THIRD LAW"
„With eyes closed, the typically communal experience of a live performance was rendered individual as participants were forced to stand still, put their phones and friends aside, and just listen to Porter's haunting soundscapes as the flickering lights wreaked illusory havoc on the insides of eyes. It was a fantastic display of two great artists, both pushing the boundaries of their chosen media, working together [..]” – Matt Bobkin, Exclaim
„The performance turned heads and opened mouths, and became one of the most talked about experiences of the whole week.” – Vincent Morris, The Line of Best Fit
„It was like a Star Wars soundtrack stretched out and wrapped in steel-wool. And even though Biosphere’s approach to epic subjects has more appeal to me, I could not deny the awe inspired by this show.” – Secret Thirteen
„[..] followed by Roly Porter, who played one of my favorite sets of the weekend. His celestial, coruscating sounds synced perfectly with visual artist MFO's intense cosmic imagery.” – Chris Zaldua, Resident Advisor
PAST PERFORMANCES
2nd April 2016 - Rewire Festival, The Hague, NL
27th April 2016 - Corsica Studios, London, UK
11th May 2016 - The Hearn, Luminato / Unsound Toronto, CA
21st May 2016 - EcoMadrid, Madrid, ES
25th Aug 2016 - Kraftwerk Berlin-Mitte, Berlin Atonal, DE
10th Sept 2016 - WOS, Santiago de Compostela, ES
22nd Sept 2016 - Palais des Beaux-Arts, Bozar, BEAF, Brussels, BE
22nd Oct 2016 - ICE, Unsound Festival Krakow, PL
12nd Nov 2016 - MIRA Festival, Barcelona, ES
26th Nov 2016 - Jazzhouse, Copenhagen, DK
2nd Dec 2016 - S/V/N #MASH, Milano, IT
16th Dec 2016 - Excinema, Padova, IT
28th Jan 2017 - Södra Teatern, P2 Art's Birthday, Stockholm, SE
23rd Feb 2017 - Sonic Acts, Amsterdam, NL
23rd March 2017 - Cineglobe, CERN, Geneva, CH
3rd May 2017 - Centrum Technologija, Wroclaw, PL
26nd Aug 2017 - TODAYS Festival, IT
18th Sept 2017 - Ruhrtriennale, Essen, DE
23rd Sept 2017 - OSA, Sopot, PL
3rd Feb 2018 - La Gaite Lyrique, Nemo Festival, Paris, FR
25th May 2018 - 4.G.B. Festival, Tiblisi, GE
24th June 2018 - Laterne, Dark Mofo Festival, Hobart, AUS
29th Aug 2018 - Stanislavsky Electrotheatre, Synthposium Festival, Moscow, RU
5th Oct 2018 - Spring Attitude, Rome, IT
9th Mar 2019 - Ritournelle, Münchner Kammerspiele, Munich, DE
“Mankind will never travel to the stars.
Too long the journey, too fragile the body.
But its drones will. Satellites will eventually reach the most distant places and become our eyes and ears in the skies. The Oculus Rift of the future is a mental connection between the traveler, whose body is sitting comfortably on earth, and its avatar – a drone in a distant place. Transmissions matching brainwaves allow direct communication, extending human senses into space. While its drone roams the skies the traveler dreams the journey. This cerebral connection has side effects. The act of traveling turned from a physical into a mental endeavor means that every outward journey becomes an inward one – into ones own mind.
When dreaming, memories and the unconscious reverberate in imaginary events; from past experiences we draw the picture of our individual reality. Once the avatar ventures into unthinkable realm, senses stimulated by the inconceivable, what images will be evoked? How will deep space dreaming feel?
The stage performance for the Third Law undertakes the experiment. It alters the reality of the concert venue by the use of intense sound and projections, heavy stroboscopic lights and fog. Visually the performances begins as a continuous journey through prototypical landscapes, seemingly infinite realms that feel increasingly surreal. The imagery suffers ongoing transformations, turning into a shivering phantasmagoria intensified by lighting effects. At one point the audience is asked to close eyes and exposed to a uniform stimulation of blinding light; causing shapes and pattern to appear under the eyelid – a collective hallucinatory experience.”