Optical illusions, dream worlds and endless spirals. The works of MC Escher have become iconic across the world. To celebrate the beloved artist’s 125th birth year NEuE teamed up with the DEFRAME collective and composer Vlad Maistorovici to create a program connecting Escher’s iconic imagery to music. DEFRAME projected live, audio-reactive 3D images while the ensemble performed a mind-bending program.

To celebrate the timeless graphic artist M.C. Escher (1898-1972) NEuE has teamed up with the DeFrame collective to create a program connecting Escher’s iconic imagery of dream worlds, illusions and impossibilities and mathematical symmetries to music. DeFrame will project live, audio-reactive 3D images while the ensemble performs a program with a new work by Romanian composer Vlad Maistorovici https://www.maistorovici.com/, a touching homage to Escher’s famous Metamorphosis as well as Maistorovici’s Webernesque arrangements of Bach’s canons so closely connected to Escher’s mathematical world. The program includes Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel also reflected in Escher’s work as well as the mathematically unified Konzert by Anton Webern another composer whose use of canons and variations connects with Escher’s imagery.

‘Escher’s legacy has influenced my creative thinking as a composer for many years and working with this wonderful ensemble and DEFRAME’S live visuals will be an unmissable opportunity to experience his art with fresh and relevant music as part of a single all-encompassing artistic whole.’ – Vlad Maistorovici, composer and conductor.

‘Escher’s work is iconic for every visual artist, he was so far ahead of his time. In this project, we will use a 3D projection technique to bring the ideas behind his work into today’s world, amplified by live music. Escher’s work is mathematical in nature, which makes it a perfect source of inspiration for new digital art.’ – Carolien Teunisse, DEFRAME

Video teaser: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KnvLBqV_n_BkMWbosJjVq2cL6pcEWvNm/view

Photos: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fo/ok7ten0r1bxngdjp8rzzo/h?dl=0&rlkey=oklqgji90de2rrb3dbntw3h83
Concert review: https://artstalkmagazine.nl/new-european-ensemble-presents-deframe-at-kunst-museum-den-haag/

Duration: 60 minutes

Number of perfomers: 15

Technical requirements: gauze screen hung in front of stage, light artist, technician, dark room