The Artist Concert is a social experiential experiment by Omonblanks that fused art, design, music and human interaction.
The concerts operate as non-conventional experiential spaces where artists are made to reveal emotions they might normally hide during performances. For our first series we designed a cube space which, because of space and distance, demands that the musicians be highly intimate. This intimacy is felt through the performance and connects the artists to the audience. This in turn affects the way the audience listens to the music, which we have found creates a hybrid atmosphere that invites both the performer and audience into a new experience.
With music we give full creative freedom to the musician, to be selfish in creating a performance that is based on how they feel, what they like and experiments they have always wanted to try. They go into the performance knowing that the audience will accept whatever they give, the power is returned to the musician, this gives back agency to the musician that you can almost immediately see how they switch from working to serve the audience into enjoying the performance for themselves.
With Art we allow the contemporary visual artist integrate into the design and music, they become silently the piece linking the three forms into a full experience.
“Someway somehow I have come to the realization that this is my calling, my duty and happiness at the same time. I am a messenger than just an entertainer and as much as it is a sin to kill or murder, it is also a sin for me not to fulfill these obligations. It has to be done, and has to be done this way, if not am going be to in my dying bed one day regretting for not doing it like this and thats going to be my hell. Music is very important to me, especially finding a voice through it. Its a very powerful tool, which affects people all around us. Its a means to connect with people over the world without even meeting them. Now that I have a voice with all these people looking up and listening, what do I want to say ? What do I want to represent ? What do I want to share with them, how do I want my music to affect them ? Positively.” Akan.