Cellular tones

The duo known as Dioxyde (couple Dominique Skoltz and Herman Weeb) are all about things like the “tension between carbon- and silicon-based cultures,” “visual matrixes” and “multi-cellular work”—in short, perfect Mutek fodder. The growing minimalist-minded music, sound and new technology festival seems the perfect platform for Dioxyde’s digital antics. They’ll be performing their “temporal triptych,” Ovskii, on opening night, Wednesday, May 29.

“There are three aspects of the performance,” Skoltz explains. “We begin with ‘Mono,’ very cellular and minimalist, like magma, or the electric birth of cells. Then, ‘Field of Tension,’ where the cells come to life and organize themselves. Then, ‘Structure,’ where the forms become 3-D, voluminous.” The electric cocktail of sound and image comes courtesy of Dioxyde’s custom-created program, LoeeFrek, which they use to produce what Skoltz calls a “confrontation between the digital and the organic.”

“With the performance, we bring it to life, using organic sources like cello samples, then oscillating them with the computer—this is not an all-digital world. We want to recognize the human and universal aspects of this technology.” The couple, who began working together in more commercial mediums, now focus on the digital interplay of visual and sound mediums and are finishing up their experimental feature-length art film. Dioxyde share the bill with Dutch duo Mens/Koolwyk (sound artist Radboud Mens and video artist Bas van Koolwijk). At Ex-Centris (3530 St-Laurent), 8:30 p.m. $20. Info: 847-1242 or www.mutek.ca. :

—Genevieve Paiement