The Sancho Plan – Artist profile
July 4th, 2006 by rui
The Sancho Plan is an innovative AV collective that produce a range of progressive audiovisual compositions – live audiovisual performances, experimental musical animations and interactive audio toys. Their varied works explore the real-time interaction between music and video and its potential for narrative and storytelling. Refined, amusing and emotionally engaging pieces of entertainment, they are designed to be immediate, playful and accessible by all.
The Sancho Plan Live
The Sancho Plan blends a careful combination of animation, sound, music and performance to produce striking, interactive AV shows. They perform their music live while simultaneously controlling a varied cast of animated characters through an evolving musical adventure via their self-customised software and MIDI instruments such as their electronic drum pads. Musicians before technologists, they are a true ‘rock ‘n roll’ band for the 21st century. They focus on the live environment – delivering physical, skilful and carefully choreographed performance – using cutting-edge technology to push at the forefront of live audiovisual work but in such a way that the complexity of the machinery is almost invisible. Their all-new live audiovisual set was premiered at Addictive TV & Cinefeel’s Optronica festival at the National Film Theatre, July 2005 and has since been enjoyed by audiences at the Ultrasound festival, Huddersfield, November 2005 and the Threshold festival, London, April 2006. The Sancho Plan was recently commissioned to design and perform a bespoke live performance for the Umbro European Championship VIP event in Paris in May 2006.
To complement the live performance, The Sancho Plan has developed an interactive installation so that following the concert and where possible, the general public can play with their audiovisual pieces themselves. This installation will feature at the Ars Electronica Center, Linz as part of a new, yearlong exhibition opening at the Ars Electronica Festival in September 2006.
The Sancho Plan Other Works Nominated for the best VJ category at the 2003 Diesel-U-Music Awards and winners of the People’s Choice Award at the Sundance Online Film Festival 2004 for Drum Machine, their collaboration with tokyoplastic.com, The Sancho Plan’s creative output has been shown in clubs, festivals, cinemas, theatres and on television and computer screens worldwide. Plan 47, a 10-minute audiovisual mix, was broadcast on UK terrestrial television as part of Addictive TV’s Mixmasters in 2004 and remixed into a three-minute high definition (HD) version in 2005. The Sancho Plan are currently developing a series of interactive musical toys in collaboration with AV pioneers Coldcut due for commercial release in 2007.
Who Are The Sancho Plan?
Headed by Ed Cookson with key collaborators Lewis Sykes, Adam Hoyle, Motion Teller, Troika, Nick Sweetman, Ed Niblett and Rob Rae – The Sancho Plan is a network of talented practitioners with a collective background in sound design and music production; interactive, graphic and 3D design; computer and mobile gaming; video, animation and experimental filmmaking; and programming and software art. The aim of the collective is to draw from this diverse talent to create unified and truly innovative contemporary audiovisual work of a rare quality.
