Heading to The MAC, Belfast

We’re in the final stretch before the first public performance of Performance Fingerprints at The MAC, Belfast on 13 March 2026.

Recently the work has been less about new features and more about what a live piece needs: clarity, stability and a shared sense of shape. In rehearsal we’re trying to make the drawing another instrument in the ensemble.

The drawing comes from MarkSynth, which listens to the instruments and uses a camera to watch the players move. The movement matters because a performance is physical as well as musical. The way a band breathes together, builds up or holds back is part of what makes improvisation readable.

Two controls have become important as the system has grown. Agency is a sliding scale that shifts control between the performers, through sound and the camera, and me, through the instrument’s settings. It lets the visuals lead sometimes and follow at other times. Intent lets me steer the general feel of the drawing (still, sparse, flowing or turbulent) without getting lost in the details.

For the premiere, the focus is the live show: a performance that holds attention, and a system that can be played reliably under pressure.

The system is also built so that drawings from a performance can be printed afterwards and painted into, to become physical work.