Oliver SimpsonNew Media Art
I am interested in the way we, as humans, experience things.
I want to build a world with rich interactions, full of wonder and possibility.
I design and develop apps + websites, games and public art installations. I also like to VJ, create generative art and build immersive environments with new media elements.
View my Linked-In profile for my professional resume, or my Behanced profile for my UX / UI & graphic design projects.
I also have a MixCloud profile for my DJ mixes. Contact me if you want to say hi 👋🏻
Moon Room
The Moon Room is an immersive experience at Never Apart, a non-profit arts and culture centre in Montreal. People lie on bean bags around a 3D representation of the Moon while surround-sound speakers fill the room with ambient, cosmic sounds. The room promotes a sense of calm and connection to the cosmos; it is a space of meditation and tranquility. Our team (myself, Kelly Nunes and Adam Sajkowski) was selected to bring this project to life. I was responsible for video mapping and all computational aspects of the project. I used the creative coding framework OpenFramworks together with the video mapping software Madmapper. We faced many technical challenges; I learned a lot while developing this project. It was a pleasure to work with Kelly, Adam, and the Never Apart team. You can read more about the making of the Moon Room in this interview with Kelly Nunes.
Red Bull Music Academy 2016, Montreal
Visual projections for CFCF + Jean Michel Blais at Place des Arts, Cinquieme Salle. at RBMA. I worked with graphic designer Adam Sajkowski and design agency Daily Tous Les Jours under the direction of Kelly Nunes to create highly quality audio-reactive graphics for the concert. We used a contact mic to receive sound from JMB's piano and transmitted live midi data from CFCF's computer that was processed live using a Max MSP custom patch and a bespoke Open Frameworks app to trigger graphic elements in real time that were projected onto a projection-mapped surface. We were delighted with the result: we could see a visual interpretation of the music from each artist blended beautifully together that produced and extremely delicate and sensitive visual accompaniment to the music.
Eco
How does one bring vitality to an otherwise lifeless space? This was the question driving this project. Our team spent a lot of time discussing how we could transform this space from a cold, impersonal space into a warm, inviting space with limited resources and without infringing on safety regulations. We initially considered introducing sonic elements into the space by hanging fine chains that would knock together to produce light, metalic sounds, but this was problematic due to the weight involved and our because of our dependance on the existing structure for support. So we transitioned from sound to light, light being strongly associated with life. Inspired by the writings of Christopher Alexander, we decided to create a light-based installation that would resonate with people on an emotional level. In practical terms, Eco is a physical column of light with moving parts that illuminates and animates the artium stairwell in the engineering department at Concordia University. You can dicover more about this project on the Eco website.
Pinpeat
A visual interpretation of Pinpeat: traditional Cambodian ceremonial music associated with the Angkor period. These animations were part of an interactive feature for an exhibition on Pinpeat at the Quai Branly Museum in Paris. Graphic elements are syncronized with sound frequencies using After Effects. Art direction by SHIC.
Array
'The sounds of vacuum tubes and transistor rhythms'. Array is a dark, brooding, ambient-electronic album by Montreal artist Aether Pilot. The soundscapes represent his vison of a distopian future, inspired by soviet era architecture and technology. I was asked to create visual material for all six tracks. The visual elements are computer-generated using a custom program I made using Quartz Composer and composited in After Effects. Art direction by Gridspace.
Le Chromatograph
I was comissioned by the Montreal interaction design agency, La Camaraderie, to create a screensaver that would support the physical chromatograph machine. This 19th Century invention is a semi-automatic drawing machine that they recreated and then presented as an interactive public art installation. Learn more about this marvelous drawing machine.
Live Visual Projections
I've been performing live visuals (or 'VJing') at events for over 10 years. I have performed live visuals at clubs and festivals for some of the most respected artists in the underground electronic music scene including Richie Hawtin, Moritz von Oswald, Juan Atkins, DJ Stingray, Veronica Vasicka and John Talabot. The video is me (Ollygram) + Lennart VJing live at La SAT (La Société des arts technologiques, Montreal) for Thomas von Party and John Talabot. This was a very special night in the summer of 2014; the music was pure fire and the atmosphere was electric. One might say : it was lit!
The Grid
The Grid is a series of programmatic animations designed specifically for a low-res / large format grid of LED panels installed at La Société des Arts Technologiques for Mutek festival 2013 in Montreal. I was invited to VJ under my own name (Ollygram) on The Grid for Juan Atkins and Moritz Von Oswald for the closing night of the festival. Watch the demo video. Art direction by Iregular.
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