Hypnodrome is a live interactive artpiece where "you are the VJ". Control what happens on screen with an array of buttons, knobs, sliders, and more.
Hypnodrome's flat-screen version was presented at Lusio Lights in 2018 and 2019.
Hypnodrome was presented with dome projection at Critical Northwest 2016-2019.
This project was born out of dual desires of mine to explore VJing and to create interactive visual art. The original controls were very simple - 8 buttons and 8 knobs on a simple Launchpad MIDI controller. As time went on, I added different controls, including an Ableton Push controller, Midi Fighter 8x8 button grids, and an Arduino-based "theremin" control. I was thinking about Willy Wonka & The Glass Elevator, where there are all these mysterious buttons, each leading to to the unknown, and you feel compelled to explore and understand.
Here's a vlog I made about the project after the first year:
Pretty crazy to reflect on this video 4 years later and listen to myself talk about the insecurities I was just starting to get over! As I iterated on the project over the next few years, I had to pick up a lot more skills, and had to rely on a lot more people for help and inspiration.
If I made an updated version of this video I'd have to call it "I didn't believe I was a leader", which is still a scary thought to me as I've bought into this "self-made man" myth and I still want to be recognized for the amount of work I am personally putting into my projects. However what actually felt the most rewarding to me was seeing my campmates get engaged with the project and contributing to its success (whether I knew how to ask for that help or not).
It's also funny to hear myself talk about being reluctant to delcare an art project "done". The ending to Hypnodrome wasn't logical, it wasn't some goodbye party - it was just the moment I decided I would rather work on other things. It was also the moment I decided that it was more exciting to try new things instead of continuing to present the same thing that I knew worked.