NONOTAK transforms illustration and architecture into audiovisual art

With NONOTAK Reverie V.6 currently on view at Fact’s Future Shock exhibition at 180 Studios in London, we revisit our 2020 documentary about the audiovisual duo’s immersive work.

NONOTAK is an audiovisual collaboration between illustrator Noémie Schipfer and musician Takami Nakamoto. Together they have been exploring space, sound and light through installations and live performances since 2011, appearing at festivals such as MUTEK, Sónar and Houston’s Day For Night.

The duo’s extensive catalog of work focuses on the interplay between Schipfer’s geometric patterns and Nakamoto’s sound design, brought to life by stunning projections and lighting, triggered using Ableton Live and Resolume.

“With NONOTAK, it’s more like drawing inside a space than when I was drawing on paper or painting,” says Schipfer. Nakamoto, who is a former architect, approaches the creative process almost like designing a structure.

“When I’m writing music, I always think of spaces where there’s always some sort of abstract vision going on in my head,” Nakamoto says, “and then I start putting colors or emotion into it. the idea I have and I’m starting to think about what it might look like.

In this episode of Primary Optics, Fact caught up with NONOTAK at the 2020 edition of Midday Meat Festival in Prague, where they presented their superb audiovisual show Shiro, which took place in the Divadio Archa. The duo spoke to us about their career, their inspirations and the technology behind their ambitious audiovisual productions.

NONOTAK’s Reverie V.6 appears at Future Shock through August 28, 2025. Tickets are on sale now through the 180 Strand website.

Then watch: Primary perspective: Pedro Maia on the creation of a “live cinema” for the music of an analog film