Somnifacient Signals | Pierce Warnecke

Biederman / Warnecke 2020
Single Channel Color HD Video

Stereo Audio
39min
Given the global limits on travel and mobility and experiences once witnessed in person are now mediated through the internet, ‘Somnifacient Signals’ traverses the network , mining it as a medium. During the premiere deferred performance for the Grey Area, Pierce and Matthew traveled while stationary collecting and processing images, video, sounds and field-recordings bouncing them back and forth between each other in the Alps and Montreal where they have been waiting and working.
All audio and video processed from various online live cams, sound maps, etc (see full list of sources below).

Telematic performances for:

Grey Area (US) 2020

NEXT Festival (SK) 2020

Rewire Festival (NL) 2021

Full video version available on Sedition as digital collection.

From Rewire Festival:

“At Rewire 2021, the two artists are collaborating on ‘Somnifacient Signals’, an urgent audiovisual work exploring the possibility of connecting with the audience at the time of heightened physical restrictions. The duo conceived ‘Somnifacient Signals’ during the first COVID-19 lockdown, responding to their lack of mobility by gathering material in real time from webcams situated across the world. The performance focuses on transformation of these common prosaic sources using noise, moshing, feedback, extensive compositing / overlaying, saturation and glitch to transform the bland material into an intense take on experiencing a mediated world and connecting via the internet. The promise of the internet as a place to connect is flooded with ads, glitches and trolls combing to make the internet not a undemocratic utopia, but instead a place fraught with dangers, misinformation and poor connections.”