Troubèr,Telepæsants’ continued investigation into telepresence, reimagines the medieval “trouvère” — the wandering musician who sought connection through song — as a metaphor for two contemporary performers navigating distance, digital fragmentation, and the search for presence within a networked world.
This live performance unfolds between two performers in separate locations: one in Montréal, Canada, one in Singapore, twelve timezones apart. They attempt to “find” each other in real-time through sound, gesture, movement, and shared space. Michał operates a customized portable video game console. Dirk, on the other hand, uses his handcrafted FryProne, a unique digital musical instrument.
The audience observes this dialogue through live video projection and spatial audio. Sound is not just heard – it is felt. Timbre, pitch and dynamics are reflected in the visual elements, they manipulate spatial motion and amorphic visual forms.The displaced performers connect through the virtual world that combines multiple live camera feeds, composed into 32:9 projected space, which continues Telepæsants’ explorations of virtual representation and broadcast production of distributed live performance.
Troubèr is not about transmitting music — it is about emergence . It unveils how distance can be a source of creativity, not just separation. In a world of digital noise, the work reminds us that connection begins with gesture, silence, and the quiet act of listening, not data and fast-paced imagery.
This piece is both a performance and a living laboratory — where music, presence, and human interaction are continuously redefined in a virtual world. We invite the audience not to watch, but to listen – to feel the search, the uncertainty, and the quiet beauty of finding each other across distance.
Telepæsants is a group that sprang out of Kaon’CPT collective of remotely improvising artists spanning 15 timezones. Twelve Hours Same Time is our research-creation project where we explore the use of Digital Musical Instruments, and networked protocols, to interact with virtual and physical objects. In our work, the distance is the essence, and we need to weave it into all aspects of our exploration together. We have been exploring hybrid performances using both potential virtual spaces and physical locations, and gesture, in all its manifestations (physical, musical, visual, digital). Telepæsants has presented and performed their works extensively and are continuously developing a strong immersive aesthetic with video, multi-channel audio, improvisation, lighting and hybridity.
Michał Seta is a sound artist, improviser, creative code plumber, and digital arts researcher. Transdisciplinarity is his daily bread, and it warps him off the beaten path. He co-founded the band No One Receiving as well as UniSecs, a spoken word and electroacoustic music duo, and RedSpills, a DMI trio. As a coder, he has contributed his skills to several artists as well as some Open Source software. He has ventured into interactive art installations with [IR]rational, a commission from the Montreal Science Centre, and Re-Collect, an award-winning project that has been presented in North America, Europe and the Middle East. His short film [*]nScape was selected for the first Drone Cinema Film Festival and was followed by several musical releases in rapid succession, mainly on Silent Records. Recently, he has been interested in using video games (of his own craft) as a vehicle for musical expression.
Dirk Johan Stromberg is an Improvisor, Audio Engineer, Maker, and Production Designer. His body of work explores the dynamic interaction between performers and technology in performance practice. His collaborations have drawn him to work with various musicians, artists, dancers, writers and composers in the US, Europe, Asia and Australia. Designing both hardware and software has led to the development of various interfaces, synthesis techniques, installation works, electro-acoustic instruments, and interdisciplinary works. Currently, he is focused on creating instruments as part of a new performance practice. His instruments aim to reveal the physical manifestation of his musical process. He focuses on tactile-agile instruments with a high degree of versatility that enables him to work with and respond to different artists in many styles.
Dirk promotes the approach of the community as an integral process of making art and has consistently facilitated vehicles for collaboration and art-making through festivals. He co-founded and co-directed the Duong Dai festival in Vietnam 2007-2018) and curated several different concert series focusing on improvised and spontaneous music. Currently, he is curating the Hidden Session series in Singapore. He has presented his work as a composer, performer, improviser, and maker in conferences and festivals ranging from NIME to Moers. Dirk is currently a Senior Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts, University of the Arts Singapore.