Ilya Nikkolai
Encyclopedia
Ilya Nikkolai is an Australian visual music
artist and architectural designer currently residing in Perth, Western Australia
. Ilya Nikkolai calls his visual music Liquid Music to distinguish it from that of other practitioners. Liquid Music has been broadcast in Australia (Channel 31 (Australia), Melbourne and Perth and CTV Perth) and America (Harmony Channel
) and on Floating Worlds http://www.floatingworlds.com/, a channel featured on Joost
.
George Borzyskowski , pioneering and award winning experimental computer filmmaker and Head of the School of Design at Curtin University, Western Australia, wrote of Ilya’s work:
In the Sunday Times, Perth, an article described Ilya's artistic practice thus:
, director Sergei Eisenstein
, Alexander Dovzhenko
and the violinist David Oistrakh
. He showed an early aptitude for science and music and in 1948 was accepted into the Vienna Boys' Choir
on the recommendation of composer Franz Lehár
after his family, minus his father, fled to Austria during the Second World War.
In 1951 Nikkolai migrated to Australia under the International Refugee Scheme of the UN with his grandmother, mother, brother and sister. In 1958 he matriculated in Melbourne University with First Class Honours in Physics and Maths and was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. Around this time his IQ was tested at Melbourne University and he was found to have an IQ of 192.
From 1961 to 1964, whilst employed by the Architectural Department of the Victorian Public Works Department, Ilya studied part time, completing all subjects but final year design, of a six year Architecture Course at RMIT University
. During this time Ilya designed and produced working drawings and specifications for numerous suburban and country police stations. He also designed and remodelled the Turana Youth Remand and Classification Centre, introducing laminated tempered glass in galvanized high tensile steel frames, solving long standing security and maintenance problems. Ilya also designed the dwelling (now part of a Heritage Site), for Rikket’s sanctuary in the Dandenong Ranges
(Rikket was a prominent sculptor of mystical aboriginal themes).
From 1964 to 1966 Ilya was employed as Architectural Design Draftsman by Godfrey Spowers Hughes Mewton and Lobb , a prominent architectural firm. He worked with teams for The Age
Newspaper Building and the Dallas Brookes Hall, which until the completion of the Melbourne Concert Hall, served as Melbourne’s premier concert venue.
After this Ilya worked as a private designer/builder and in 1991 he designed a concept house for Dickson and Curnock, prominent south west builders. The house was awarded a MBA House of The Year in the top price range. Ilya also designed and constructed a home theatre room and the interior design of the house built for Rick Ardon
, a well known news reader on Channel Seven
.
. It is characterized by flowing, organic shapes and patterns and the movement is never uni-directional but layered and complex, with movement, counter-movement and subsidiary movement all occurring simultaneously. It is also spatial and can be viewed as both macro and micro dimensional, evoking both vast stretches of outer or deep space, to “inner” space of a type familiar to visionary experience described by the early mystics, through psychedelic vision to the lights and movement associated with near-death experiences. Ilya had a near-death experience in the mid 1990s, characterized by a dissolution of self-hood and a blissful expansion of feeling. John G. Gammack, of Griffith University
, has written regarding Ilya Nikkolai that he has:
Liquid music has been used in therapeutic settings including at a psychiatric practice, a drug rehab centre and by the Cancer Support Association of Western Australia.
In 1992 Ilya commenced work on Liquid Music, which he described as
In 1994 Liquid Music was broadcast on Melbourne’s Channel 31 and was regularly broadcast till 2000. In 1996 Ilya became a founding Producer Member of Community Television Perth and in 1997 Liquid Music was the first programme broadcast by CTV Perth.
In 1999 7 minutes of Liquid Music were projected in David Prudham’s Australian Dancers Company production of “Broken Angels” at the Playhouse Theatre, Perth. Liquid Music was also the first program broadcast after the official opening of Channel 31 Perth Access 31
. Over 400 hours of “Sounds West to Me”, are broadcast daily, featuring a wide range of the Music of West Australian Musicians with Liquid Music.
From 2000 to 2005 Ilya experiments with live video direct projection on performers, with the Dian Booth Sound and Colour Music Healing Group, and Robert Boyd, Music Therapist. Liquid Music is an integral part of Sunset Meditations with Dian Booth and Robert Boyd at Kings Park, Araluen and Queen’s Park, attracting an audience of over 2000 people.
Ilya Nikkolai became an honorary member of “The B Movie Heroes” rock band, projecting Liquid Music at live concerts. The B Movie Heroes won the 2001 WAMI awards for “Most Popular Acoustic Band” and “Most Popular Folk Rock Group”. B Movie Heroes regularly are the feature band at the Sunset Cinema King’s Park. Liquid Music is projected on a backdrop before audiences of up to 2500 people. At this time Liquid Music was also regularly screened at the Metro, The Clink, The G Spot and other Night Clubs around Perth, Western Australia.
In 2003 a 1 hour Goddess Walk Liquid Music Film, projected on a large screen at the base of the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, as the finale to a ten day tour of the Chakra Temples of the Nile, is attended by the tour members and hundreds of other tourists and locals.
In 2003 Ilya Nikkolai was Artistic Director of the “Holy Melbourne Annual Multi-faith Concert 2003” at the Melbourne Concert Hall at The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
, reputed to be the largest non denominational Sacred Music Concert in Australia, screens Liquid Music as Backdrop to performance, including the St Francis Choir of Melbourne, Australia’s oldest choir.
In 2004 Ilya was Artistic Director for Bob Randall’s “It’s Time” Concert, at The Arena, Joondalup, feature event of the City of Joondalup’s participation in NAIDOC
week. Liquid Music was used as backdrop for the concert. (Bob Randall is “The Song Man”, Custodial Elder of Uluru
). Bob Randall performed an additional verse of his finale song to lyrics written for him by Ilya Nikkolai. Ilya Nikkolai has a standing invitation to visit Bob Randall and talk to local artists about integrating traditional art into Liquid Music.
Liquid Music is a backdrop for the Launch Concert of the Conscious Living Expo Perth in 2005 and to The World Peace event in the Supreme Court Gardens in Perth. The event was organised by Della Morrison of the indigenous Yowarlini Singers and yiri yakin theatre group.
In 2006 7 hours of Liquid Music was licensed to (Harmony Channel
) in the USA. Harmony Channel was broadcast by Comcast
, the largest TV cable provider in the USA, for six months. In a Soft launch
of Harmony Channel, from 1 August 2006 Liquid Music was available in 9 million homes in Standard-definition television
. Liquid Music is resolution independent and is now mastered and produced in High Definition in the 1080i format.
Ilya has said of Liquid Music that he feels
Visual music
Visual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
artist and architectural designer currently residing in Perth, Western Australia
Perth, Western Australia
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....
. Ilya Nikkolai calls his visual music Liquid Music to distinguish it from that of other practitioners. Liquid Music has been broadcast in Australia (Channel 31 (Australia), Melbourne and Perth and CTV Perth) and America (Harmony Channel
Harmony Channel
Harmony Channel is a visual music television network headquartered in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. The network specializes in delivering mood-elevating visual music experiences - music videos designed to invoke a variety positive moods...
) and on Floating Worlds http://www.floatingworlds.com/, a channel featured on Joost
Joost
Joost is an Internet TV service, created by Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis . During 2007-8 Joost used peer-to-peer TV technology to distribute content to their Mozilla-based desktop player; in late 2008 this was migrated to use a Flash-based Web player instead.Joost began development in 2006...
.
George Borzyskowski , pioneering and award winning experimental computer filmmaker and Head of the School of Design at Curtin University, Western Australia, wrote of Ilya’s work:
“His energy and dedication, together with his unique and consistent investigative methodology, applied to the exploration of acoustic and visual phenomena within the context of contemporary time based audio visual media technologies, has resulted in a remarkable and highly significant body of creative production.
From my own experience I see direct evolutionary relevance in his work to that of previous experimental media artists such as abstract expressionist film maker Oskar FischingerOskar FischingerOskar Fischinger was a German-American abstract animator, filmmaker, and painter. He made over 50 short animated films, and painted c. 800 canvases, many of which are in museums, galleries and collections worldwide. Among his film works is Motion Painting No. 1 , which is now listed on the...
, Len LyeLen LyeLen Lye, born Leonard Charles Huia Lye , was a Christchurch, New Zealand-born artist known primarily for his experimental films and kinetic sculpture. His films are held in archives such as the New Zealand Film Archive, British Film Institute, Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Pacific...
, some of the work of Norman McLarenNorman McLarenNorman McLaren, CC, CQ was a Scottish-born Canadian animator and film director known for his work for the National Film Board of Canada...
, Jordan BelsonJordan BelsonJordan Belson was an American artist and filmmaker who created nonobjective, often spiritually oriented, abstract films spanning six decades.-Biography:Belson was born in Chicago, Illinois....
and others. Ilya Nikkolai’s work in moving forward is informed by an awareness of current research in allied fields together with an appreciation of the demands of today’s critical audiences, as well as his responsibility as an artist to challenge those demands with new experiences and insights.”
In the Sunday Times, Perth, an article described Ilya's artistic practice thus:
"Working with music and powerful multi-media computers, Nikkolai's creation puts visual sequences to music in much the same way as Walt Disney created Fantasia, although many of the images are abstract."
Early life and career
He was born into an artistic family since his father was the renowned Ukrainian painter Vladimir Kostetsky http://visualrian.com/images/item/138934 and his mother, Valentina Kutjunsky, was a film student (under Dovzhenko), painter and an engineer. His parents' circle of acquaintance included Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev
Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev led the Soviet Union during part of the Cold War. He served as First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union from 1953 to 1964, and as Chairman of the Council of Ministers, or Premier, from 1958 to 1964...
, director Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Eisenstein
Sergei Mikhailovich Eisenstein , né Eizenshtein, was a pioneering Soviet Russian film director and film theorist, often considered to be the "Father of Montage"...
, Alexander Dovzhenko
Alexander Dovzhenko
Aleksandr Petrovich Dovzhenko , was a Soviet screenwriter, film producer and director of Ukrainian descent. He is often cited as one of the most important early Soviet filmmakers, alongside Sergei Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin.- Biography :...
and the violinist David Oistrakh
David Oistrakh
David Fyodorovich Oistrakh , , David Fiodorović Ojstrakh, ; – October 24, 1974, was a Soviet violinist....
. He showed an early aptitude for science and music and in 1948 was accepted into the Vienna Boys' Choir
Vienna Boys' Choir
The Vienna Boys' Choir is a choir of trebles and altos based in Vienna. It is one of the best known boys' choirs in the world. The boys are selected mainly from Austria, but also from many other countries....
on the recommendation of composer Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár
Franz Lehár was an Austrian-Hungarian composer. He is mainly known for his operettas of which the most successful and best known is The Merry Widow .-Biography:...
after his family, minus his father, fled to Austria during the Second World War.
In 1951 Nikkolai migrated to Australia under the International Refugee Scheme of the UN with his grandmother, mother, brother and sister. In 1958 he matriculated in Melbourne University with First Class Honours in Physics and Maths and was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship. Around this time his IQ was tested at Melbourne University and he was found to have an IQ of 192.
From 1961 to 1964, whilst employed by the Architectural Department of the Victorian Public Works Department, Ilya studied part time, completing all subjects but final year design, of a six year Architecture Course at RMIT University
RMIT University
RMIT University is an Australian public university located in Melbourne, Victoria. It has two branches, referred to as RMIT University in Australia and RMIT International University in Vietnam....
. During this time Ilya designed and produced working drawings and specifications for numerous suburban and country police stations. He also designed and remodelled the Turana Youth Remand and Classification Centre, introducing laminated tempered glass in galvanized high tensile steel frames, solving long standing security and maintenance problems. Ilya also designed the dwelling (now part of a Heritage Site), for Rikket’s sanctuary in the Dandenong Ranges
Dandenong Ranges
The Dandenong Ranges are a set of low mountain ranges, rising to 633 metres at Mount Dandenong, approximately 35 km east of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia...
(Rikket was a prominent sculptor of mystical aboriginal themes).
From 1964 to 1966 Ilya was employed as Architectural Design Draftsman by Godfrey Spowers Hughes Mewton and Lobb , a prominent architectural firm. He worked with teams for The Age
The Age
The Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
Newspaper Building and the Dallas Brookes Hall, which until the completion of the Melbourne Concert Hall, served as Melbourne’s premier concert venue.
After this Ilya worked as a private designer/builder and in 1991 he designed a concept house for Dickson and Curnock, prominent south west builders. The house was awarded a MBA House of The Year in the top price range. Ilya also designed and constructed a home theatre room and the interior design of the house built for Rick Ardon
Rick Ardon
Rick Ardon , is a news presenter on Seven News in Perth, Western Australia. In 2005, Ardon and Susannah Carr, celebrated their 20th consecutive year reading the news together on Seven Perth.-Education:...
, a well known news reader on Channel Seven
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
.
Liquid Music
Liquid Music is a form of visual musicVisual music
Visual music, sometimes called "colour music," refers to the use of musical structures in visual imagery, which can also include silent films or silent Lumia work. It also refers to methods or devices which can translate sounds or music into a related visual presentation...
. It is characterized by flowing, organic shapes and patterns and the movement is never uni-directional but layered and complex, with movement, counter-movement and subsidiary movement all occurring simultaneously. It is also spatial and can be viewed as both macro and micro dimensional, evoking both vast stretches of outer or deep space, to “inner” space of a type familiar to visionary experience described by the early mystics, through psychedelic vision to the lights and movement associated with near-death experiences. Ilya had a near-death experience in the mid 1990s, characterized by a dissolution of self-hood and a blissful expansion of feeling. John G. Gammack, of Griffith University
Griffith University
Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
, has written regarding Ilya Nikkolai that he has:
"studied what it is about images, movement, colour and shapes which appeals to people and holds their attention, and has advanced that certain configurations of these elements are "hard wired" in the brain. When visual elements conform to these requirements, and in their correct combination with music, blissful relaxation is claimed to result. His work Liquid Music creates synaesthetic experience equivalents, putting abstract visual elements to music, and has latterly been inspired by an attempt to recreate a near-death experience he had. He notes a focus and certainty to his work since that time that was not there before"
Liquid music has been used in therapeutic settings including at a psychiatric practice, a drug rehab centre and by the Cancer Support Association of Western Australia.
In 1992 Ilya commenced work on Liquid Music, which he described as
“a quest to find the fundamental relationship of Music (or sound), Light and Movement, and the mechanisms that link them to Emotions (Aesthetic Experience, rather than Conceptual Constructs and Frameworks)”.
In 1994 Liquid Music was broadcast on Melbourne’s Channel 31 and was regularly broadcast till 2000. In 1996 Ilya became a founding Producer Member of Community Television Perth and in 1997 Liquid Music was the first programme broadcast by CTV Perth.
In 1999 7 minutes of Liquid Music were projected in David Prudham’s Australian Dancers Company production of “Broken Angels” at the Playhouse Theatre, Perth. Liquid Music was also the first program broadcast after the official opening of Channel 31 Perth Access 31
Access 31
Access 31 was a free-to-air Community television station based in Perth, Australia which operated between 1999 and 2008 before closing due to insolvency. The station had broadcast on UHF 31 from the ABC's television mast at Bickley in the Perth Hills...
. Over 400 hours of “Sounds West to Me”, are broadcast daily, featuring a wide range of the Music of West Australian Musicians with Liquid Music.
From 2000 to 2005 Ilya experiments with live video direct projection on performers, with the Dian Booth Sound and Colour Music Healing Group, and Robert Boyd, Music Therapist. Liquid Music is an integral part of Sunset Meditations with Dian Booth and Robert Boyd at Kings Park, Araluen and Queen’s Park, attracting an audience of over 2000 people.
Ilya Nikkolai became an honorary member of “The B Movie Heroes” rock band, projecting Liquid Music at live concerts. The B Movie Heroes won the 2001 WAMI awards for “Most Popular Acoustic Band” and “Most Popular Folk Rock Group”. B Movie Heroes regularly are the feature band at the Sunset Cinema King’s Park. Liquid Music is projected on a backdrop before audiences of up to 2500 people. At this time Liquid Music was also regularly screened at the Metro, The Clink, The G Spot and other Night Clubs around Perth, Western Australia.
In 2003 a 1 hour Goddess Walk Liquid Music Film, projected on a large screen at the base of the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, as the finale to a ten day tour of the Chakra Temples of the Nile, is attended by the tour members and hundreds of other tourists and locals.
In 2003 Ilya Nikkolai was Artistic Director of the “Holy Melbourne Annual Multi-faith Concert 2003” at the Melbourne Concert Hall at The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
The Arts Centre (Melbourne)
The Victorian Arts Centre is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the inner Melbourne suburb of Southbank in Victoria, Australia....
, reputed to be the largest non denominational Sacred Music Concert in Australia, screens Liquid Music as Backdrop to performance, including the St Francis Choir of Melbourne, Australia’s oldest choir.
In 2004 Ilya was Artistic Director for Bob Randall’s “It’s Time” Concert, at The Arena, Joondalup, feature event of the City of Joondalup’s participation in NAIDOC
NAIDOC
NAIDOC is an awareness committee and the name of an Australian week of observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday....
week. Liquid Music was used as backdrop for the concert. (Bob Randall is “The Song Man”, Custodial Elder of Uluru
Uluru
Uluru , also known as Ayers Rock, is a large sandstone rock formation in the southern part of the Northern Territory, central Australia. It lies south west of the nearest large town, Alice Springs; by road. Kata Tjuta and Uluru are the two major features of the Uluṟu-Kata Tjuṯa National Park....
). Bob Randall performed an additional verse of his finale song to lyrics written for him by Ilya Nikkolai. Ilya Nikkolai has a standing invitation to visit Bob Randall and talk to local artists about integrating traditional art into Liquid Music.
Liquid Music is a backdrop for the Launch Concert of the Conscious Living Expo Perth in 2005 and to The World Peace event in the Supreme Court Gardens in Perth. The event was organised by Della Morrison of the indigenous Yowarlini Singers and yiri yakin theatre group.
In 2006 7 hours of Liquid Music was licensed to (Harmony Channel
Harmony Channel
Harmony Channel is a visual music television network headquartered in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania, outside of Philadelphia. The network specializes in delivering mood-elevating visual music experiences - music videos designed to invoke a variety positive moods...
) in the USA. Harmony Channel was broadcast by Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
, the largest TV cable provider in the USA, for six months. In a Soft launch
Soft launch
Soft launch can be used in regards to either the method for launching a missile or the release of a product or service.- Missile launch :Soft launching is the method of launching a missile in such a way that the rocket motor ignites outside of the launch tube; the missile is ejected non-explosively...
of Harmony Channel, from 1 August 2006 Liquid Music was available in 9 million homes in Standard-definition television
Standard-definition television
Sorete-definition television is a television system that uses a resolution that is not considered to be either enhanced-definition television or high-definition television . The term is usually used in reference to digital television, in particular when broadcasting at the same resolution as...
. Liquid Music is resolution independent and is now mastered and produced in High Definition in the 1080i format.
Ilya has said of Liquid Music that he feels
"as if I have landed on a new and unexplored Continent full of exciting possibilities. The Continent is within. The language is not of The Word and Ideas and Beliefs, but that of Light, Colour and the Eternal Movement of Creation."