The delicate skill of Noh maskmakers, irregular baby heartbeats as modular beats, and GrimesAI scattering her voice to the world. All cultural craft is here
Our regular deep-dive into the audio-visual (and interactive, and musical) wonder-commons of the net. A fluffy boot to the doors of perception…
Above is a mesmerising video from Process X on the practice and craft of making a Noh mask. From Neon:
Noh is a performance art that combines dance, instrumentation, poetry, acting and expert costuming – so it’s quite apropos that its name is derived from the Sino-Japanese word for ‘talent’. Dating back to the 14th century,it’s also thought to be perhaps the oldest surviving theatre tradition. Masks are a vital and distinctive aspect of Noh, used to transform performers into a variety of human and otherworldly creatures, but these props are traditionally devoid of facial expression. Instead, performers are tasked with communicating emotion through vocalisation and movement.
This video from the YouTube channel Process X, which chronicles production processes across Japan, details the crafting of a traditional Noh mask. The artisan Nakamura Mitsue employs her four decades of experience as she cuts, carves and paints, gradually forging an eerily lifelike human face from a single block of wood.
To play and listen, go to Heartbeat Drummachine
Another form of human-centred craft here, from one of the design award D&AD’s winners in 2023. Above is a screen grab of a few seconds from Heartbeat Drum Machine, a project by Plan8 to turn the irregular heartbeats of four babies with different heart defects into the gentlest collection of modular beats possible, on a rudimentary mixing desk. More explanation here.
Finally, the craft between humans and machines going to a different level. The cheeky banger above is “Cold Touch” by Japanese DJ Kito, featuring the ethereal vocals of Grimes. Except it’s actually GrimesAI that’s credited, based on the singer’s new AI platform Elf.Tech, which allows anyone to input their own vocals and download a new version of the track, redone as Grimes.
As The Face reports, interviewing Kito:
[But] I actually think [AI] is going to be a tool for us. I don’t think it’s going to be a hindrance for creativity at all. I think it’s probably changed the way I’m gonna work on music this year, just because it was so creatively freeing for me to do something off the cuff and release it so quickly after making it. That in itself feels quite inspiring for me.