Photo credit: Sam Walton
Luke Nickel (b. 1988) is an award-winning Canadian composer, virtual roller coaster designer and independent researcher currently living in Bristol, UK. Nickel’s work takes the form of experimental music compositions, videos and impossible virtual roller coasters. His work knots together themes of memory, transcription, translation, queer identity and gravity. He has collaborated with internationally-established soloists and chamber ensembles such as Mira Benjamin, Heather Roche, Quatuor Bozzini, and EXAUDI, and has worked with organizations such as Arnolfini, the Santa Fe Institute, and G39.
About his work, scholar Jennie Gottschalk writes that “there is an unusual quality of rawness” (Experimental Music Since 1970).
In addition to his artistic work, Nickel has received a Ph.D from Bath Spa University and actively publishes on topics such as orally-transmitted experimental music, Éliane Radigue and roller coasters. Nickel also co-founded and currently curates the Cluster: New Music + Integrated Arts Festival in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, which is now entering its 12th year.
Palace64 depicts a world where roller coasters form their own natural environment. I created the visuals using No Limits Coaster, a piece of roller coaster simulation software that I have been using since I was 11 years old. I created the music with Decibel Ensemble in Melbourne Australia using an orally transmitted method of collaborative composition.
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