Visual Music Works

Last weekend students at Parsons the New School for Design and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music took the stage to present visual music works, the product of a collaborative studio course they took this semester.

In the course, Parsons animation and New School Jazz composition students worked in teams where they took on the roles of composers, writers, directors, production managers, animators, videographers, concept artists, character designers, set designers, and technical directors to complete original works of visual music.



The Jazz and Animation studio was co-taught by Parsons faculty member Ben Katchor. An award-winning and widely published illustrator, Katchor recently wrote, animated, and directed the highly acclaimed production of "The Slug Bearers of Kayrol Island," a collaboration with musician Mark Mulcahy. The second instructor, Ernesto Klar, is a sound and media artist whose work was just shown at Pulse Art Fair.

Among the works presented were an animated ecosystem that changed and grew in response to the musical score; a piece that brought to life children's dreams as the music moved the animation from the conscious to unconscious state; and another that transformed the live musicians into on-screen avatars, who act out virtual stories through the music performed live onstage.

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