upfront


Live AV


performance and immersive art at CULTVR LAB this May


Found on Cardiff’s Penarth Road, Cultvr Lab is the brainchild of Welsh film production company 4Pi and opened in late 2019. The vagaries of timing have meant that the impressive art space – more on its tech spec in a moment – has lain unused for much of that subsequent period, but with the creatives behind it swinging back into gear, immersive audiovisual events like those in Cultvr’s May programme demonstrate its potential.


The venue’s major selling point is its 360-degree or ‘fulldome’ cinema: that is to say, a white half-sphere wall-ceiling onto which visuals can be projected, thus screening them above and all round spectators. 4Pi are also big on using virtual reality technology to film events at Cultvr, with a view to them being shown thereafter in non-standard fashion. Each of the three on offer this month – two AV performances and a “live sculpture” installation – look like good candidates for such treatment.


The first, on Fri 6 May, brings Monocolor – Marian Essl, a multimedia artist from Vienna – to Cardiff for a premiere of his Entangled Structures work. It’s generative visual art created through code, manifesting onscreen as hundreds of grey metallic strings which move around each other in altering patterns.


Rock royalty Alice Cooper & The Cult reign in Swansea


Since opening earlier this year, Swansea Arena have made themselves a more than viable venue for acts of all genres and stature, and May will see a juggernaut of rock power through south-west Wales.


Godfather of shock-rock Alice Cooper, after more than five decades in the industry, is still going strong. Of late, he’s gone back to his roots in Michigan, where he was a big wheel in the Detroit rock scene of the 1960s and 70s. As well as hits like School’s Out, No More Mr Nice Guy and Poison, there’s sure to be a selection from last year’s top five album Detroit Stories. Cooper also tends to retain a backing band at the top of their game, and is bound to have a heavyweight selection of musicians in tow. Hopefully, this will include drummer Glen Sobel and award-winning guitarist, ‘Hurricane Nita’ Strauss.


Sharing headlining duties on this tour are post-punk goth-rockers The Cult. Beginning in Yorkshire as Southern Death Cult, lead vocalist Ian Astbury and guitarist Billy Duffy have stood the test of time, still standing as founding members since the early 1980s. Three decades have passed and 2016 saw the release of their 10th studio album, Hidden City; 2019 marked the 30th anniversary of Cult favourite Sonic Temple, the consequent tour including a Welsh stopoff.


Meanwhile, this evening – part of a six-date UK tour – is sure to be a spectacle in its own right. An elegantly brutal night of havoc.


Alice Cooper + The Cult, Swansea Arena, Mon 23 May Tickets: £48.90. Info: swansea-arena.co.uk


OWEN SCOURFIELD 22


On Sat 14 May, there’s an all-day event titled Semi- Diurnal Spaces, a term which relates to tidal cycles: Studio Above&Below, the people behind this installation, are London- based but this project looks at how water moves in the Bristol Channel, adjacent to the Welsh coastline. These tide patterns are influenced by human activity, be that a direct presence in the sea or a more insidious programme of environmental damage.


Finally, on Fri 20 May, another live performance from a duo who share 4Pi’s interest in working with 360° spaces. Tom Slater and Jeremy Keenan are from London recording studio Call & Response, which specialises in surround sound and has been utilised by an impressive list of primarily electronic producers (Actress, Beatrice Dillon and Mark Fell to name but three). The duo’s show, Illusory Contours, features a laser show as well as sound and video projections.


Tickets: £7.50/£5 concessions (Fri 6 + Fri 20 May); FREE entry (Sat 14 May)


Info: cultvr.cymru NOEL GARDNER


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