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DREAMCHORD - SOULWEIGHT
11/8/22 -4/9/22
DREAMCHORD is a new record label founded by artist / musicians nil00 and Yank Scally, bringing together their shared interests of electronic music, glitch aesthetics and digital spiritualism.

Their debut exhibition SOULWEIGHT takes as a starting point the concept of weighing a human soul upon death to judge how well a person has lived, a motif which is common to multiple ancient religions.

Visitors are invited to place different objects on a large weighing dish - objects carried on your person (phone, keys etc) or one of the 'mystical items' displayed in the gallery: the C-Shell, Bound Heart, Love-axe and Wing-machine. Each item will trigger unique variations in the music and visual projections which fill the gallery space.

Utilising imagery based on user interfaces, control panels and video game health indicators, SOULWEIGHT will invite users to consider questions of their own soul's weight, while looking towards 'an alternate reality where technology is used in service of good, supporting the collective journey of the human spirit towards crystalline beauty.'

Instagram: @nil00151 / @yankscally / @d.r.e.a.m.c.h.o.r.d
You both have well established solo practices - what made you decide to team up as DREAMCHORD?

nil00: Dreamchord started when Yank wanted to start a record label and I wanted to release music. My first EP, 00 - which he exec produced - is the first official DREAMCHORD release. We have been working together for ages making music and videos, and the last few art things I did he ended up doing the technical side - we made an RPG pixel game and a mystic SMS bot. So really it’s just carrying on what we’ve been doing under a different name. Yank had this idea to do a weighted jukebox so we decided to do a musical exhibition built around that idea.

How does a DREAMCHORD project differ from a Yank Scally or nil00 solo project?

Dreamchord: It’s more based on shared ideas than our individual expressions, and that shows in the art. It’s also more aimed at getting other people involved in something interactive, rather than just sharing a personal world.

Why are video game aesthetics important to your work?

YS: My first artistic influences were video games. The music and visuals I encountered in the Playstation 1 era when I was a child shaped my taste a lot.

nil00: I think for me it was just growing up very online, and playing games as a kid too. I like painting and making stuff with my hands too but I think we’re just nerds who like messing around with stuff on computers.

What’s the best exhibition you’ve ever seen?

Dreamchord: Evian Christ live set in a shipping container at Constellations. It probably broke world records for the most strobes and smoke machines in the tiniest space ever.
What kind of experiences do you want to create for audiences?

YS: A fun time, like a really relaxing, zen firework display.

nil00: Fun is number one and also maybe a chance to think about the meaning of life and your feelings and stuff for a bit.

What would be your dream opportunity?

YS: a warehouse with wall to wall computers blinking away at my will.

nil00: doing like a huge musical exhibition with big money where everything reacts to your presence and it feels like a cross between a planetarium, an escape room and a choose your own adventure novel.
This work, and your wider practices generally, alludes to an interesting relationship with organised religion or spirituality - in that you seem interested in the rituals and customs and their potential, but not the actual religious teachings...

nil00: I’m always interested in different ways people have tried to figure out a way to live and find valuable ideas everywhere. I’m interested in the teachings too but I’m more drawn to mystics who have taken their own path. It’s really just an obsession with the meaning of life and wanting to spend time with that mystery
and find the best way to love it while I’m here.

YS: When I think about creating an artistic universe it has a very divine thought process - like what would a tree look like in this universe? Or its leaves? Or a car? I like to start at the very beginning and that has a sort of mystical and genesis-like feeling in itself. It’s very similar to developing video games which is a big interest of mine.

Your artworks share a lot of stylistic qualities with each other’s and also with Podge who is a frequent DREAMCHORD collaborator. Is this something you arrived at together or separately? What was your work like before you landed on this sound / aesthetic combo?

nil00: it’s a hard one to answer when it comes to Yank because he taught me how to produce and everything and I pretty much learned watching him over his shoulder passively for a couple of years so I know I absorbed a lot of that, and then he was very involved with producing my EP - but then again I don’t think any of that would have happened if we hadn’t shared tastes to begin with. And then I was very involved with the visual side of Yank Scally stuff so it all kind of developed simultaneously and I think all of that explains why our art is similar. Podge just happened to be one of the few artists nearby who seemed to be coming from a similar perspective, and that’s how we got to know each other. Now we’re working around each other all the time so we’re sharing skills and ideas all the time, you naturally end up absorbing things from each other and growing together.