`It’s very much like Harry Potter; we’re waving our arms and making things happen,” says Paul Magid, one of the Flying Karamazov Brothers. “I think the wizards were just computer geeks from a long ago future.”
But for the musical juggling troupe’s new production, the Brothers K didn’t consult with white-haired wizards of old, but brainiacs from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab.
The show, “L’Universe” (pronounced “loony verse”), is a high-tech, multimedia production that incorporates the Brothers’ distinctively silly sense of humor, juggling feats and — ahem — quantum physics.
A pretty heady undertaking from guys who used to juggle spaghetti and bang out Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony on musical football helmets. The Flying Karamazov Brothers will debut “L’Universe” for Chicago audiences Oct. 14 at the Center for the Performing Arts at Governors State University in University Park.
“It’s always been a contention of ours that juggling is just a small version of the universe, which is this enormous, unfathomable juggling trick,” says Magid, 46, who has been a Karamazov Brother (“Dimitri”) since the group’s inception in 1973. In the new show, he says, they wanted a more dynamic, technologically involved presentation. Merging their fascination with science and juggling, they set out to demonstrate the theories of physics, using juggling as a metaphor.
“The question was,” Magid continues, “How do we explain such a large subject in such a short while, and do it so eyes don’t glaze over?”
The answer: through jokes, computerized juggling pins, an invisible interactive instrument and planet juggling.
But moving planets isn’t an easy enterprise, even for those as imaginative as the Brothers. When playing a show in Portland, Ore., the group was approached backstage by Barry Gilbert of Analog Devices Inc. Had they ever thought of working with magnetic fields? he asked.
“Yeah, in fact, we have been,” said Magid, and collaboration was born. Gilbert put the Brothers in touch with MIT’s Media Lab. In the past, the Media Lab worked with Yo-Yo Ma in developing a computerized “hyper cello” and designed a “spirit chair” for extremist magicians Penn and Teller.
The philosophy behind such collaborations comes from a belief that creativity can produce innovative technologies that can later be applied to everyday use. For instance, the MIT Media Lab worked with Lego to create Lego Mindstorms, the computerized toy set, and helped design special car airbag sensors that won’t fire when a child is present.
“It was just an amazing match right from the beginning,” says Benjamin Vigoda, a research assistant at Media Lab. The Karamazov Brothers “are jugglers and musicians, and we’re scientists, but we really work the same way. They taught us about what works on stage, and we taught them what we can do.”
The Brothers came up with a wish list of interactive special effects and gadgets, and then the MIT crew designed or adapted the software and the hardware for the onstage vignettes.
One particularly difficult segment in “L’Universe” incorporates sonar helmets, which put out a “ping” like a submarine, light-emitting juggling pins, and hand-fastened motion detectors. Wearing what look like diving suits with Ghostbuster backpacks, the Brothers commence with a round of “jazz juggling,” improvisational throwing inside an established pattern. The computerized pins then change color as they move from one part of the stage to the other. As pins flash in mid-air, the quartet juggles them in a random order–not letting one another know where the next pin is coming from — to demonstrate the unpredictable nature of subatomic particles.
Whew!
Another heady feat comes with “shadow juggling,” in which one of the Brothers juggles planet images with his shadow on a screen. A massive $75,000 projector shines the planets on the screen, which is then read by a computer, along with the position and motions of the juggler. The end result pits man against the universe, as he juggles the planets. The real-time computer interaction is so accurate that if the juggler fumbles a planet, it will fall — just like in regular juggling.
“We were really excited about this because it gave us a chance to try out our research thesis: that people could interact with computers without using a mouse or keyboard,” says Vigoda. “They could just interact with their bodies, making the world more interactive.”
“We tell the audience, `Everything you are about to see is actually happening,'” says Magid. “We went through an incredible amount of trouble to be able to move planets with our hands on the screen.”
And that’s not all. Perhaps the most impressive technology is a three-dimensional, stage-size sensor grid that allows the group to create music using hand motions and body positions.
“What we’ve done is allowed them to select both instruments and notes using their bodies,” says Matt Reynolds of Media Lab.
Reynolds worked on the hardware component of the show, which includes the motion detectors on the performers’ hands. The stage is broken down into 3-D grid, which represents different musical notes. Stepping into a different grid won’t create a sound, but a hand motion will, giving the musicians an extraordinary amount of freedom and control.
“The idea was to [outfit] people with technology that is unobtrusive, and give virtuosic performers a chance to make sounds in ways never thought possible,” Reynolds says.
Although the Media Lab and Flying Karamazov Brothers’ collaboration inspired some eye-popping spectacles, there were still a few ideas existing technology couldn’t bring to life.
For example, Magid wanted to end the show with a juggling extravaganza in which the clubs would interact with a 3-D hologram stage setting, complete with planets, guys in boats, and other silly objects. They wanted to be able to move the universe around, like the Creator in virtual reality goggles.
“We’d still like to do that, maybe in the future,” says Magid. “But the show now is extremely funny, beautiful and unbelievable. But I say again, it’s all really happening.”
