In 2007, LIA was commissioned by the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) and Forma to create a work for ‘Beck’s Fusions’, a program of art and music collaborations presented on Trafalgar Square, London.
The piece, o/68, was created as an audiovisual reinterpretation of Laurie Anderson’s 1981 work “O Superman.” Produced in collaboration with sound artists @c (Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela), the original installation was presented as an immersive 360° environment across 16 screens within a specially designed architectural pod.
Following the London premiere, the work was adapted into a single-channel version for film festivals and screenings. This iteration distills the visual language of the original commission, synchronizing the generative imagery to a metronome-driven, minimalist soundscape.
o68 (Single-Channel Version, 2008), generative video (instrumental).
The Original Commission: Trafalgar Square (2007)
Installation views and video screenshots from the original 360° commission, featuring lyrics from Laurie Anderson’s ‘O Superman’.
Touring Exhibition: ‘A Secret Understanding’ (2009)
Installation views at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria.
About the Adaptation
o68 was created by LIA and @c (Miguel Carvalhais and Pedro Tudela). Originally produced for the Beck’s Fusion exhibition, curated by the ICA and Forma, o68 was then re-edited to a single video channel audiovisual piece.
o68 was composed under direct influence from Laurie Anderson’s “O Superman (for Massenet)”, originally using both Laurie Anderson’s words and vocal recordings. The current version retains most of the original audiovisuals created for the multi video channel exhibition version, but detaches itself from the source of inspiration by eliminating both Laurie Anderson’s original words, voice and sounds, presenting itself as somewhat of a distant version of Laurie Anderson’s theme, not a cover or a reinterpretation but rather perhaps a mutation.
In an also evolutional step in @c and LIA’s usual collaborations, o68 features recordings of LIA playing the piano, crossing over from the strictly visual field of operations and stepping back into the musical front. Musically, the composition approaches “O Superman” not by directly incorporating its sound or music, but rather by embracing its roots and influences, searching a proximity to 20th century minimalism, both in tonal as in formal aspects. This conceptual approach led to the reduced palette of both colors and forms, syncing all the development of the composition to the ticking of a metronome that beats along the duration of o68.
Text by Miguel Carvalhais
Press Review
Re-inventing Laurie Anderson’s auteurish art-music of 1981, O Superman, is a hefty challenge, but digital experimenter Lia, collaborating with sound artist @c, succeeds. Anderson’s robotic vocal, “So hold me mom/ In your long arms/ Your electric arms”, is mesmerising as ever, while geometric patterns spawn across the screen as the new bass line thuds. If you arrive in the pod while this is on you’re in for a treat.
The Guardian, September 2007
Project Details
Year Created: 2007 (Original Commission ‘o/68’), 2008 (Instrumental Version ‘o68’)
Medium: Generative Video Installation (Variable Formats: 16-Channel 360°, Dual-Projection, Single-Channel)
Artistic Credits & Documentation
Sound: @c (Miguel Carvalhais & Pedro Tudela)
Piano Recordings: LIA
Source Material: Original Studio Recordings of ‘O Superman (for Massenet)’ by Laurie Anderson
London Photography: Victoria Speyer
Graz Photography: Courtesy of Kunsthaus Graz
Commission & Curation
Commissioned by: ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts, London)
Curated and Produced by: Forma
Exhibitions (Original Version ‘o/68’)
Trafalgar Square, London, UK (‘Beck’s Fusions’, Sep 6 – Sep 8, 2007)
Touring to: Meeting House Square (Dublin), Urbis (Manchester), Old Fruitmarket (Glasgow)
Kunsthaus Graz, Graz, Austria (‘A Secret Understanding’, May 8 – May 24, 2009)
Mykhailivska Battery, Sevastopol, Ukraine (‘A Secret Understanding’ at ‘Balaklava Odyssey’ Festival, Aug 12 – Aug 13, 2010)
MediaDepot, Str. Hnatiuka 11, Lviv, Ukraine (‘A Secret Understanding’, Aug 27 – Aug 29, 2010)
‘A Secret Understanding’ exhibited alongside: Graham Dolphin, Doug Fishbone, Nick Jordan, Clare Langan, Oliver Laric, Torsten Lauschmann, Erik van Lieshout, Jane and Louise Wilson, Young-Hae Chang.
Selected Screenings of o68 (Single-Channel Version)
International Short Film Festival Oberhausen, Germany (May 1 – May 6, 2008)
16th Curtas, International Film Festival, Vila do Conde, Portugal (Jul 5 – Jul 13, 2008)
Tricky Women, International Animation Festival, Vienna, Austria (‘LIA Special’, Mar 9, 2013)
Animateka, International Animated Film Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia (Dec 7 – Dec 13, 2009)
Cube Cinema / Close-Up Film Centre, UK (‘Sixpackfilm – A Tribute: Noise’n’Color’, Oct 2017)
