on&off

on&off is a collaborative performance project between artists Nikolai Kozin and Martin Lau. Nikolai creates live animated drawings accompanied by noise/soundscapes produced by Martin, with each element being improvised in response to the other.

Nikolai is a visual artist specialising in drawing and painting:

"My normal approach is a spontaneous start with meticulous finish. I hardly ever plan what I’m going to do, just begin with gesture and rhythm and see where it takes me. Elements, like loose associations and metaphors, fit into place, as I go.

Live digital performances with Tagtool are a logical extension of this practice. I tend to be more spontaneous with DIY Tagtool, as with Tagtool app you have to think and plan more, but I often switch between Tagtool app and the DIY version in the course of one session.

For my visuals with on&off I use old-style DIY Tagtool, as it allows to create continuous moving and evolving visual stream of consciousness."

instagram.com/nikolaikozin
facebook.com/thatsituk
degreeart.com/artists/nikolai-kozin

Martin is a visual artist and musician currently working with photomontage and electronics/flute, and curates monthly experimental music event Ealing Extranormal:

"My practice reflects lifelong fascinations with the functional environments associated with the corporate/industrial/municipal, and with a nondualistic conception of the world, which both feeds and is informed by my interest in Buddhism, where states considered to be binary opposites can co-exist in the same time and place. I produce improvised noise/soundscapes primarily with electronics and flute. My solo work often is played to NASA space footage, as my sounds aim to evoke a connection with a wider sense of being. I also live score silent movies and other public domain visual material".

Martin is a co-curator for B.AIT WEST and the founder of Ealing Extranormal.