"Breaking Counterpoint" with Safety Third Productions and Zane Forshee
Commissioned audio-visual piece for Safety Third Productions (co-directed by Katherine Helen Fisher and Shimmy Boyle) with Zane Forshee. I (Mingyong Cheng) served as Creative Technologist & Visual System Developer, developing a real-time retro-futuristic audio-visual system using TouchDesigner with the MediaPipe plugin, Kinect Azure for motion capture, and a multi-camera setup for live streaming. The system integrates a static camera placed at multiple locations and a handheld iPhone used as a live streaming camera via NDI. The latest iteration was presented at the Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University, following an initial performance at Future Stages, NYU.
At Peabody Institue:
Introduction (by Zane Forshee)
In a world of infinite scroll, the edges of surprise have been worn smooth.
Even performance, the last refuge of risk, is being stripped of revelation and sold back as content.
So, we asked:
What are we creating that’s worth showing up for?
Breaking Counterpoint is an immersive, algorithmically scored collision of sound, choreography, and computational media.
It’s not built for perfection.
It’s built for volatility.
This is a chamber ensemble where the musicians play, the dancers trigger responses, the machines interrupt—and the audience completes the circuit.
These elements converge into a living score: reactive, unstable, and always on the edge of becoming.
No two performances are the same.
No single moment can be repeated.
Audiences don’t sit outside the work.
We bring you into the experience.
To shape it, to witness what only exists because you are there.
This is performance where presence has stakes, where bodies glitch the system, machines talk back in real-time, and each moment dissolves as soon as it arrives.
Surprise becomes possible again.
Breaking Counterpoint is an experiment in collective presence.
A participatory system. A space for real-time emergence.
Because this kind of art doesn’t live in a feed.
It lives in the room.
And only if you’re there.
Credits:
Created by
Zane Forshee — Guitarist & Producer
Directed by
Choreography & Performance
Choreography by Colette Krogol and Matt Reeves, in collaboration with the performers
Performers:
London Brison
Levi Coy
Colette Krogol
Matt Reeves
Visual & Interactive Systems
Lighting Design
Associate Lighting Design: Malory Hartman
Developed in collaboration with
At Future Stages @ NYU:
Future Stages @ NYU
Link to a full event trailer: https://www.katherinehelenfisher.com/works/2024/future-stages-nyu.html
Director: Katherine Helen Fisher @khfdance
Producer: Caroline Haydon @carolinemhaydon with Safety Third @safetythirdproductions
Hosted by the Collaborative Arts Department at Tisch @collabartsnyu @nyupaulsoncenter
Photo & Video Documentation: Dave Geffin @davegeffin
Featured Artists:
- Alan Winslow @alanwinslow
- Armon Naeini @entroplay
- August Henderson @augusthenders
- Jean Sonderand @jean_sonderand
- August Luhrs @augustluhrs
- Chelsi Cocking @chelsialise
- Kate Ladenheim @kateladenheim
- Meenah Nehme @racoon.onthe.moon
- Mingyong Cheng @mingyong_art
- Han Zhang @hanzhangpqqo
- Shimmy Boyle @classicshimmy
- Sydney Skybetter @sydneyskybetter
- Xin Ying @xin_ying_dance
- Zane Forshee @zaneforshee
- Katheriene Helen Fisher @khfdance
Design Support:
- Cameron Surh @cameronsurh
- Jaide Malone @jaidemalonee
- Harry MacInnis @harrymacinnis
Demo Video:
A documentation video recorded by myself to demo the overall visual experience with the music of Electronic Counterpoint provided by Zane Forshee (Warning: This is not a performance :3