Trace Reverb Trace

2024 — Lili Maya + James Rouvelle collaboration.

Trace Reverb Trace is an installation with sound, realized on Governors Island, NYC during the 2024 Indeterminacy Festival. The project was created during our artist residency on the island and assisted by 4 emerging and 9 apprentice artists.

Sited in an abandoned home at 17 Nolan Park, and in acknowledgement of the technological history and largely built nature of Governors Island, Trace Reverb Trace envisions a self-sustaining artificial ecology independently reclaiming this built environment when the people have gone.

The sound was based on a 10 note scale (A Dekany derived from the research of Erv Wilson) whose root tone was the resonant frequency of the rooms where each array was installed. Each of the 42 speakers functioned independently and “chose” a pitch from the scale, an amplitude level, and duration based on environmental factors.

Artists Jonah Bowrie and Ben Munoz, who were emerging artists in this year’s festival and assisted us on our project, have an ongoing online work at fuit.es. Ben and Jonah incorporated content from Trace Reverb Trace into fuit.es. The page is here: fuit.es/trace-retrace and continues to grow and change in digital space.

Our emerging and apprentice Artists:
Derek Holland, Noelle Salaun, Jane Grabowski, Jonah Bowrie, Ben Munoz, Brayden Carr, Daniela Chapparo, Elliot Russell, Jude Markey-Smith, Trey Scantlen, Sam Douma, Thelonius Garcia, Ben Zucker.

This project was made possible by the generous support of the New York Arts Program (Emilie Clark, Director), and Stanzi Vaubel, Artistic Director and Founder of the Indeterminacy Festival.

Images: Bjorn Bolinder
@findthelightphotography IG
findthelightphotography.com

Motion Parallels

2024 — Lili Maya + James Rouvelle collaboration.

Based on Video and Music developed for our performance/Artist talk at the NYArts Program in October ’23. Both the video and music were performed live. The sound and video here were recorded directly from their respective computers.

For our performative works we develop video and audio structures that we improvise through. Both the imagery and sound incorporate generative/interactive systems, meaning that the generative elements are responding to us, and vice versa.

a flower grew out of the ocean

2023 — Lili Maya + James Rouvelle collaboration.

“Someone fond of paradoxes, sufficiently stubborn and guided by belief, could go on doubting that the ocean was a living being. But it was impossible to deny the existence of its mind, whatever could be understood by the term. It had become quite clear that it was only too aware of our presence above it…” 
“But what am I going to see?”
“I don’t know. In a certain sense it depends entirely on you. It’s visioning seems symbiotic, a form of communion: what you see is created from what it can see in you and what you are willing to know about both yourself and its consciousness.”

A flower grew out of the ocean is a music/sound/spoken text/media performance in four parts premiered on October 21, 2023 at the Crypt below the Church of the Intercession on W155th St, NYC. The text was excerpted from Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris.

Each section of the work is timestamped and the timestamps are visible by mousing over the timeline of the video.

Performers:
Handmade Electronic Instruments: Lucas Yasunaga (yasunaga.work/)
Vocalists:  
Hilary Baboukis (hilarybaboukis.com/)
Holly Druckman (druckmanholly.com/)
Live Video Projection Lili Maya (mayarouvelle.com)
Electronic Music/Composition: James Rouvelle (mayarouvelle.com)

Documentation by:
Azmi Mert Erdem (azmimerterdem.net)
Michael Wilson (michaelcoachandphoto.com).

For the text excerpts and more information visit: mayarouvelle.com/a-flower-grew-out-of-the-ocean/

it happens like this

2023 — dimensions variable — digital print [original work / video installation image]

…the first thing to say is that the in-front-of-me dimension does not exist as such, since immediately below me there opens the void, which then becomes the sea which then becomes the horizon which then becomes the sky…” Calvino

We have an upcoming performance on Saturday, December 2, 7:30pm 
at *The Montauk Club in Prospect Heights Brooklyn.

Indeterminacy Society / Stanzi Vaubel, Artistic Director presents:

It happens like this
Music | Media | Sound

Lili Maya, Video Installation
James Rouvelle, Electronic Music
w/ special guest on cello

*The Montauk Club is private. If you’d like to see the show please contact us and we’ll put you on the guest list.

For additional information and audio clips click here.