not what we agreed

“not what we agreed” is an interdisciplinary inclusion-focused art project, where deaf individuals and performing arts professionals co-create an audiovisual performance that brings together music, sign language songs and poetry, movement, and video art. The project’s aim is to empower deaf creators to actively shape content, rather than merely adapt it—fostering an equal creative partnership.

Since 2023, my role as a video artist in this project, has been focused on the development and integration of visual solutions into the overall stage form. The video projections serve both aesthetic and practical functions—helping deaf and hard-of-hearing performers follow the musical structure without relying on a hearing “conductor.” The image is projected onto the back wall and floor, forming a two-part screen that the performers inhabit. In the final 2024 performance at Arts Printing House, the wall screen measured 11 meters wide and 5 meters high, with an equally large projection on the floor. The visuals display the musical tempo, rhythm, and agreed visual cues to support performers in navigating the piece musically and spatially.

Pre-synchronized video content is used to align visual events with musical ones (such as choruses, transitions, intros/outros). For smaller musical details that may vary in live performance, a different method is used: live audio from musicians’ microphones is routed to a computer that generates real-time visuals indicating musical accents, changes in pitch or timbre, and other audio features.

Future iterations of the project aim to expand this technique by using multiple live audio tracks from different instruments to animate separate visual layers, and by employing real-time visual generation using Max/MSP or TouchDesigner. Interactive elements with sensors—such as gesture gloves or smartphone gyroscopes—are also being explored.