The piano, an analogue musical instrument, with its 88 keys or tones—88 discrete digital steps— forms the framework for joint performances. The instrument is acoustically and optically measured, recorded and deconstructed: the strings of the piano are all stimulated in a variety of ways, recorded, digitally stored and then transformed. Parallel to the acoustic process, the sound box of the piano is measured by hand drawings and by microcameras in recordings which are then transferred to the image plane. Hence the piano becomes a sound and image generator. Another fundamental plane of 8∞ is live electronic access: during the performance, sounds made by one of the partners are responded to via live sampling and live transformation. The playing process itself is also transformed on the projection surface via live drawings and video cameras, which are mounted directly on or in the piano. Thus image and sound planes interact and influence one another. During the entire performance purely acoustic segments alternate with optical ones. As a consequence, composed parts and free improvisation are superimposed over each other. On the visual level, project 8∞ is about developing an individual cartography of mental processes and acoustic spaces. On an apparatus similar to a lay-out table, drawings are made and projected in real time. Via a computer-assisted multi-channel mixer, microcameras are controlled live and, after analogue and digital processing, merged together. When the synthesis occurs, real images and drawn image contents (sign systems, textual levels) fuse with the sound. Hence the process by which fragile and complex sound structures are generated during the performance can be traced, via countless cross references, in a kind of "analogue hypertext".

Nikolaus Gansterer (AT), born in1974, studied experimental media design at the University of Applied Arts in Vienna. In 2005-2006, he pursued postgraduate studies at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht.

Katharina Klement (AT), born in1963, works in the fields of music/video/performance, and as “composer-performer” in the fields of composed and improvised music, as well as instrumental and electronic music.

Josef Novotny (AT), born in1963, works as a composer and musician somewhere between jazz and new music.