Bio: Max Cooper

Max Cooper is an electronic composer, multi-disciplinary artist, music label founder and former scientist who has carved out a unique space in music and visual art.

He holds a PhD in computational biology at the same time as being the first contemporary electronic musician to perform at the ancient Acropolis theatre in Athens and one of the first clutch of musicians to produce in Dolby Atmos.

Cooper has enquired for over 15 years through music, collaborations, and his label Mesh, to explore the intersections between the arts and sciences with installations, performances, immersive experiences, online media, music videos and live events.  Anchored throughout is his emotive approach, connecting how ideas and forms feel, in a manner accessible to us all. 

As an artist synonymous with the evolution of club culture, Cooper honed his craft as a DJ with a 10 year residency at legendary Midlands techno event Firefly where he formed a foundational relationship with Architecture Social Club, with whom he still collaborates on extravagant immersive installations.

"I want to encourage the acceptance of electronic music as an art form like any other. Bringing electronic music and abstract audio-visual projects into concert halls, museums and galleries is liberating - the art world opens up doors to communicate in ways that aren’t possible elsewhere."

Cooper's newest release On Being, an exploration of the "desperate experience of being human", is his tenth studio album. Crafted over two years, gathering thousands of anonymous quotes to use as creative fuel, this is Cooper's first attempt to use the experiences of his audience as inspiration for his music - rather than attempting to influence his audience's experiences with his music. "I hadn't realised the impact that other people's words would have on me."

Pivoting from computational biology to electronic music might not seem like the most natural career transition, but for Cooper the commonalities are obvious:

"In both fields, you're in a sense, free. Free from the limits of living systems, free from the limits of corporeal sound. The only constraints are in your mind."

www.maxcooper.net 

Bio: Thomas Vanz

Thomas Vanz is a multiple award winning French director who started his filmmaking journey in 2014. Utilizing practical effects, inks, pigments, and various chemical products in his creative process, Vanz embarks on a storytelling journey that delves into the history of the cosmos.

First focusing on the macroscopic aspects of the universe, Vanz artistic endeavors led him to create his debut short film, "Novae," in 2016. The film sought to illustrate the grandeur of a supernova, seamlessly blending art and science, and ultimately earning the prestigious first prize at the Quantum Festival. Building on this success, Vanz created a second film in 2017, called "Intra," delving even deeper into the cosmic realm, to portray the captivating journey of descent into a black hole, visualizing spinning black holes and an artistic interpretation of the white hole theory.

In addition to his cinematic pursuits, Vanz has showcased his directorial talents in music videos such as "Bright Side," the second clip for the gifted composer Darius's album "Utopia," and the video "Woven Song" for international pianist Ólafur Arnalds.

In 2019, the Atelier des Lumières, Paris's pioneering immersive museum, commissioned Vanz to create a one-of-a-kind piece presented in a 270-degree format titled "Verse." This immersive installation captivated thousands of visitors over the course of a year. Subsequently, Vanz expanded his portfolio by creating commissioned works and large-scale immersive events for esteemed luxury brands including Dior, Bowmore, DS4, and Garnier.

By 2023, Vanz had fully embraced the world of immersive art, embarking on ambitious projects worldwide through innovative mediums such as video mapping and LED screens.  

Vanz continues to offer audiences larger-than-life views of the microcosmos.

Synposis

Hope (Max Cooper x Thomas Vanz) 

From the Album:  One Hundred Billion Sparks (Released by Mesh 2018) 

One Hundred Billion Sparks is an audio-visual story about the creation of our internal world.  

Hope is a visual poem about the journey of a thought.  Representing the brain’s complexity a charged particle travels through a neuron, creating information, emotion, and the birth of a feeling.   

Let There Be (Max Cooper x Thomas Vanz) 

From the Album:  Yearning for the Infinite (Released by Mesh 2019) 

Yearning For The Infinite addresses a collective sense of uncertainty by exploring the pleasures of the infinite.  

Let There Be - An infinite light diffuses over darkness, representing the birth of reason and mankind. 

​Small Window on the Cosmos (Max Cooper x Thomas Vanz) 

From the Album:  Unspoken Words (Released by Mesh 2022) 

Unspoken Words is a journey of escapism, reflection, acceptance, idealism and rejection, illuminating the universal experience of what it means to be human. 

Small Window on the Cosmos ties the aesthetics of the micro to the macro scales of our surroundings, by looking out of the body into the vastness that surrounds us.