Jess Pemberton talks about her approach to making art and what to expect at our Pixel Play sessions

Make and manipulate live digital visuals in sync with our electronic musicians. All using an Xbox controller!

Jess Pemberton is the brains behind these sessions. She’s a visual artist with local electronic music collective ESC. We asked Jess a few questions to find out more…

I work with interactive systems to create digital environments, using source material like old photographs and pictures cut out of magazines.

For ESC, I’ve built a dynamic system that’s audio-reactive, so my images move in time with the music. That’s what we’ll be doing in these workshops. My job is to connect to the music, to feel it in my body, and to trust the connection will generate something worth watching.

It’s not very planned. It can’t be, because live electronic musicians don’t provide music ahead of time. That’s really exhilarating. At shows, it looks like I’m playing a video game, because I use a video game controller. People will see me dancing and smiling – even laughing, because I put things in the visuals that I think are funny.

We’ll be thinking about how we can search for inspiration, how we can bring our ideas to life, and how we can work together to make space for everyone.

We’ll be using the flexible, fun style of coding I use in our shows. You don’t have to be technically skilled, but if you are, there’s a lot of room to grow.

If you’re not interested in the tech, you don’t have to do that. You can play at manipulating the images, make collages to give to the people who are coding, or have fun designing our live concert.

I come from a non-technical background. I’m essentially a collage artist who got bored and wanted my work to move more. The software we’ll be using, TouchDesigner, allows me to animate my art and bring chaos into my process. For me, a certain lack of control is important.

I used to be fearful of technology’s potential and generally engaging with tech. Then, in trying to understand it better, I fell in love. But I will always be a collage artist in terms of how my mind works.

I guess it comes from necessity. I have a need to express visually as a way of making sense of the world. It’s a place I can lose myself in and end up finding myself again.

I was diagnosed quite late with dyspraxia and dyslexia. I sometimes struggle to find the words to express myself. This work starts conversations and helps me process things. And it unlocks things that would otherwise stay trapped in my head and I wouldn’t know what to do with.

Ultimately, it’s all just playing with art. It’s about unlocking your potential, and exploring performance and spontaneity. There’s no way to get this wrong.

Our Live Art Lab: Pixel Play sessions are open to young people aged 13-17. They take place during our Cornwall Youth Noise Orchestra sessions on Wednesdays at AMATA, Falmouth University. Find out more and sign up by clicking here.