Alex: I met Alba in Japan during a festival. I loved her work and proposed her to make a common piece. To me, it was a step forward because the performance would be something new for her and for me. I asked to make something for a dome, so it was more like a challenge. So we started to organize everything to make it happen. And we did the first piece, which we performed at SAT (Société des Arts Technologiques) in Montreal. After that, we thought…
Alba: …You thought! (Laughs)
Alex: I thought that I didn’t want us to depend on the dome, and so I imagined the second part.

Alba: We decided it before.
Alex: Yes, it was very early. Before Montreal.
Alba: We applied to work on the dome. For me, it was a dream to work on this; I saw many pieces in festivals and had the full dome in my head. At some point, Alex told me that if our application didn’t get accepted, we’d build our own dome, our own little house.

Alex: For me – [speaking to Alba] and maybe you see things differently –, this is the same universe, it has the same aesthetic, but the scenography changes and so does the audience’s experience. The original setup of the piece involves the audience all around our structure, the circle. And the venue ideally would have a multiphonic system because End(O) is about audio-visual spatialization. For the sound, we need a lot of speakers, and for the images, we have this circular multiscreen. On the other hand, Ex(O) is a classic, immersive experience.
Alba: For me, it’s a contraposition. However, the workflow is the same. I’m used to painting in 2D, but when I worked on the full dome piece, I switched to 3D – but I use the same code to create 3D shapes, textures, real-time drawings, etc. Even though the two pieces are really different and many of the elements don’t work equally in both – mainly because of the structure –, if we didn’t have the first one, we couldn’t have made the second. What was nice about this residency and second artwork is that we had the time to prepare and see what the audience would see and experience. I think this is very important.

Alba: Yes, it is very related. For me, it’s fantastic to work with Alex because this piece is not about his or my world, it’s more like a symbiosis. Also, we created this artwork in La Laboral for many days and nights, with not much time, etc. Maybe it’s more like a state of mind when we play. Everything disappears – space, time, etc.

Alba: No. Alex is an audio-visual artist – and he’s a developer too –, and for me it’s very important to work with someone who understands. The first thing we created was the sound because it’s easier to work like this. And I think I’ve learnt so, so much from Alex. Now, I’m more structured, and maybe you’re more… [Moving her hands and looking at Alex]
Alex: …unstructured. (Laughs)
Alba: (Laughs) Yes. I do focus on my work, but Alex focuses not only on the sound but also on the management, the structure, the organization, etc. For me, this is fantastic. In the beginning, it was hard because we didn’t know each other; but now, it’s easier because we know each other better. He works during the daytime, and I, during night time.

Alex: Yes! But with a crossover, a common moment.

Alex: Nature is very complex, it combines and includes many different elements – from physics to biology, to mathematics, etc. For me, the more powerful and advanced a computer is, the more it can ‘work’ as if it were nature. Before, many things were too complicated to make through a computer, but now it’s not, and that’s why I feel we’re linking it more to nature.
Alba: Yes. I was just reading an article from a magazine about the chaos and complexity of and in nature. I agree with Alex because now that computers are more powerful or developed, we can add more elements and particles. Thus, we end up with something more chaotic. But the complexity in nature is very similar to the complexity in this rich technology.
Alex: Also, now speaking about the artwork by Elías Merino and Tadej Droljc, it has a more technologic aesthetic. What I like about Alba is that she does something more organic with a palette of colours more similar to nature. There are many hues of green, for example. In a way, it’s very close to painting and, personally speaking, it reminds me a bit of Miró. Maybe it’s a bit cliché but…
Alba: No, no, I like Miró! And to me it’s very important that you say this because I’m more like a digital painter. To me, it’s central that I feel free when I paint.

We want to!

Alex: We’re going to Paris in January next year. And we’re speaking with other festivals and so on.

Alex: This is difficult, I don’t know… I can say that I think that this is the last structure I will do.
Alba: Oh, really? (Laughs)
Alex: Yes, because I think that we will be busy with this project for two years more or less. But I want to think about what to do next. I don’t want to make the same stuff over and over again. I’m not like that.
Alba: Yes, but we have a third part. The VR piece, the final part of this series.

Alex: Yes, an installation plus VR.

Alba: Yes. I’m quite interested in – and actually started to study and check – creating a machine learning system that learns about my way of drawing; I want to teach it to draw with me. But it’s very complicated, maybe in a few years…