Red Sniper

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Red Sniper was a Post-Industrial audio-visial group formed by Patrick Codenys (Front242) and artist Kendell Geers. The collaboration began in April 2003 with a Performance at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, France. The performance was the culmination of a year of research and collaboration between Codenys and Geers. The "Red Sniper" project was an attempt to find a hybrid space between the image and music, working from video clips that were looped, remixed and composed simultaneously from both the visual and audio points of view. The sound of the image was composed at the same time as the image was edited, creating a audio-visual mix that was as much about music as it was about video.

The performances presented a wall of sound in full 5,1 format and at the same time a visual onslaught of images that was as physical as it was emotional. The emphasis was on the physical dimension with a very rich deep sub-base and visuals that left few people untouched, at times even literally. The aim was to work within a digital format but strive for an analogue experience. In other words the 5,1 format was used to distribute the sound around the room and the video between 3 screens. With some tracks the deep base made the room vibrate and the images a sensorial overload.

The "Red Sniper" tracks were all composed through a process of sampling, remixing, looping, and backtracking. From the outset the focus was on the body, both as subject and as object. As the viewer felt the vibrations move through their bodies, the images on the screen were also being moved by excessive emotional and physical states. The body was depicted in orgasm, fear, anger, death, dancing, screaming, shouting and so forth.

Between April 2003 and November 2004 "Red Sniper" played the same material in art galleries, museums, rock festivals and finally the Bolzano festival of Performance Art after which it began the process of transforming itself into "S-338"

At the end of 2004 Geers and Codenys participated in a 3 month long workshop in Kortrijk, a small town in the north of Belgium. For 3 intense months they worked with a core group of contemporary dancers and a dominatrix in search of a way to integrate the physical performing body within their structure. Given that the body had always been the focus of their project it seemed natural to work with dancers and search for the hybrid space between the body, image and sound. For the duration of the workshop the group worked under the name of "Suite 338". Whilst they did at the end of the process, present a work in progress performance called "Criminal Brides," the emphasis was more on research and development, the search for a model. During the 3 months the body was explored in every conceivably way, from its image and sound to the darker sides of the emotions and physical limits. They invited alchemist Stanislass de Rola Klossowski, performance artist Marina Abramovic and occultist Simon Kane to further explore the body from their perspectives. The intensity of the material and disparity of the different working methods led to the dissolution of the group finally due to irreconcilable differences.

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