— About
Morbus Sacer is inspired by epileptic disorders and constructs its musical language around the cycles, ruptures, and sensory distortions associated with a seizure. The vocal writing takes the form of a controlled improvisation developed collaboratively with the performer, unfolding across three distinct sections that mirror the stages of epileptic experience.
The electronic layer incorporates multichannel recordings encoded as fourth-order Ambisonic streams and processed in real time with Panoramix, creating an immersive sound field that surrounds and reacts to the performer. The spatial behavior of the electronics mirrors the instability of the vocal writing, shifting between focused trajectories and diffuse, enveloping textures.
A motion sensor (R-IoT) attached to the performer's right hand controls the Disklavier via MIDI in real time. Movement data is mapped to Max for Live modules that translate gestural impulses into mechanical responses, functioning as analogies for the involuntary muscular contractions characteristic of epilepsy.
— Video documentation