MORITZ SIMON GEIST & MR808 DE
Audiovisual Performance
Moritz Simon Geist, his projects range from tonal hacking to robotics and automated robotic instrument, adding a new perspective to the “man-machine-interface”.
But his installations go beyond the basic physical and technical demand: the main theme is rather the transition from a deterministic (usually binary) system into the physical and mechanical world. This transformation entails an greater stress on the “error” of the physical world and lets the object be both more tangible and vulnerable. Let’s get mechanical: Moritz Simon Geist performs electronic music - with mechanic robots! The main robot is the robotic drum installation "MR-808". It is the first drum robot that reproduces the drum sounds of the 80s, in the real world!
The robot installation MR-808 is a replica of the famous 1980s electronic drum machine TR-808 – with robots playing the drum sounds. It is the first robot installation to transfer the electronic sounds of the most influential electronic drum computer "TR-808" into thereal world.
While using robots to produce the sounds, the live performance by Moritz Simon Geist highlights the origin of the sounds in a way no conventional media is able to, done via physical movements of the drum robot parts and lights synchronized with the sound. Thus, the installation introduces a physical error into the music. A drum beaten by a mechanical robot arm can never be as predictable as a computer generated sound.
The MR-808 is operated live by Moritz Simon Geist in his performance in the style IDM, Electronica, Abstract Techno.