MASARY Studios — Ritual System
Reviewed by Leah Davis

314 people sit placidly in concentric circles. We are expecting something, but it’s unclear what. Some laugh nervously while others chat with their neighbors, but most of us stare up at a nonexistent focal point. At the center of our formation, officiants make final adjustments to their tools. Some are recognizable: a drum kit, a synthesizer. Others are not. There’s enough inscrutable technology on display for me to feel gently intimidated. We wait. The lights dim and it begins. This is Ritual System by MASARAY Studios, and it’s as close to performing telekinesis as humanly possible. “Ritual / System is an immersive performance research project which explores relationships between frequency of sound, light, rhythm and space. This performance strives to reorient the audience in perspective and perception through quad-surround audio and wrap-around visuals.” From my perspective, this feels like modern magic. We’re in the Boston Museum of Science’s Hayden Planetarium, listening to live music while responsive digital animations are projected onto the dome above our heads. My seat neighbor and I spoke just before things kicked off. He asked me if I knew what all of this was about.  He was here because the prospect of learning more about Boston’s multimedia art scene seemed exciting. In his words, “if you don’t go, you don’t know!” So I told him what I knew: “We’re not here to be entertained, we’re here to experience.” And that’s exactly what happened over the next thirty minutes. What I experienced during Ritual System was the creation of a living circuit created by Ryan Edwards, Sam Okerstrom-Lang, and Jeremy Stewart. Soundwaves rolled through my body while simultaneously generating visuals, creating the illusion of cause and effect. Everything was connected. MASARAY notes that “there are no pre-rendered video files in this artwork.” Three-dimensional shapes seemed to materialize above the planetarium’s center plinth. This spatial-visual connection fed into an illusion of ancient ceremony. I was part of a group. If I looked away, the magic we were co-creating would fail. I felt compelled to stare. This compulsion is a testament to the power of MASARAY’s work, but it’s also an object lesson in experiential art. After 20 minutes, I was exhausted. When the lights came up, my neighbor agreed. “That was amazing, but I think I was done ten minutes ago?” We smiled at each other regardless. Experiences are not always comfortable. But they are always rewarding.