PITCH SHIFTING
Pitch Shifting is an ongoing experimental audio‑visual collaboration by Sanja Star (HR/DE) and Grgur Savić (HR/DE), active since 2019. Rooted in improvisation, real‑time system interaction, and perceptual inquiry, the project explores how sound—understood not as accompaniment but as structural force—can generate visual behavior, shape spatial conditions, and co‑constitute emergent form.
Across live performances, installations, and collaborative encounters, Pitch Shifting investigates how acoustic and electronic signals act as inputs to dynamic visual systems. Using modular architectures and improvised interaction, the duo creates feedback‑rich environments in which frequency, rhythm, amplitude, and vibration become generative parameters. Sound and image are woven into a continuous process: movement modulates signal, signal modulates form, and form invites further sonic shaping.
Performances unfold as situated experiments, driven by responsiveness rather than predetermined composition. Interactivity, system latency, and the interplay of human and machine destabilize solid boundaries between mediums. The result is a living audio‑visual field where each event is unique—co‑produced by performers, environment, and technology, and always evolving in relation to the context of performance.
Pitch Shifting also functions as a collaborative node: it bridges disciplines and perspectives by inviting musicians, contemporary artists, and technologists into dialogic practice—expanding the conditions under which sound and image converge. In doing so, the project embodies an investigative ethos in which listening, sensing, and responding are not just artistic strategies but modes of research and knowledge production
Visual music
Art film “Holography Green's function” by Pitch Shifting (Grgur Savic, Sanja Star) screened at
B.O.N.D. International Virtual Live Performance Festival (NY/US, CHN) - Premiere
Art film “Hyksos Talks” by Pitch Shifting (Grgur Savic, Sanja Star) screened at
Abstract Art with New Media Festival in Chongqing (CHN) - Premiere
OUTBOX: A Sonic Journey through Interaction and Visualization (EXPERIMENTS IN PERFORMANCE)
"In the urban white box, Pitch Shifting finds an experimental space, a retreat and also a space of contemplation for their audiovisual compositions." PS
OUTBOX is an ongoing collaborative performance that explores the intersection of sound, music, and visual art through improvisation and experimentation. Experimental musician Savic and transmedia artist Star create a dynamic, shifting environment using a variety of instruments, amplified objects, electronics, generative soundscapes, and live visuals. The performance unfolds in real time, where sound and image interact, constantly reshaping the experience. By expanding beyond conventional limits, OUTBOX invites the audience into a space where the lines between media blur and new forms of expression emerge.
Performances
Seas of Mintaka: Navigating the Cosmic Soundscape
Seas of Mintaka draws its inspiration from the stars, with a particular focus on Mintaka, a key star in the Orion constellation. Symbolizing exploration and mystery, Mintaka serves as a metaphor for the journey embarked upon in this performance—an odyssey through both sound and visual experience.
Guided by Grgur Savic and Sanja Star, the audience is led through the cosmic "seas" of Mintaka, where each sonic wave is transformed into evocative, abstract visuals. Both artists engage deeply with frequency in their respective practices, creating an environment that reflects the complexities of the universe and its infinite phenomena.
Savic weaves an experimental blend of classical, IDM, and electroacoustic music, punctuated by moments of noise and dissonance, evoking the vast depths of space and the mysterious forces that shape the cosmos. In parallel, Star’s abstract visuals—crafted from digital motion collage, 3D art, coding, and live animation—respond to and mirror the soundscape, creating an immersive, audio-reactive visual experience.
Seas of Mintaka becomes a journey through unknown realms, where sound and image are navigational tools, guiding the audience into the uncharted territory of the cosmic unknown. Through the performance, each note and visual form becomes a step into the vastness of the universe, inviting reflection on the infinite and the unknown.
INFILTRATION – A Sonic and Visual Exploration of the Unknown
INFILTRATION unfolds as a sensory encounter, where live sound manipulation and abstract visual art converge to explore themes of intrusion, adaptation, and transformation. Drawing from the mysteries of deep space and the unknown, the performance constructs an ephemeral environment in which shifting sonic architectures and dynamic 3D animation form a constantly evolving dialogue.
Savić extends the acoustic properties of the saxophone through real-time digital processing, distorting and reshaping its timbre into spectral, unfamiliar textures. These transformed sounds interact with Sanja Star’s 3D animations, where abstract forms materialize, dissolve, and collide within a landscape of shadow and illumination. The interplay between sound and image unfolds as a negotiation between presence and absence, evoking both dissonance and harmony.
Set in near-total darkness, the stage becomes a fluid perceptual space, punctuated by intentional light that reveals fleeting glimpses of movement and form. As sound and visuals evolve, the audience is invited into an altered sensory terrain, where the boundaries between the known and the unfamiliar remain in flux.
Neither fixed nor linear, INFILTRATION operates as an open-ended meditation on unseen forces—signals, transmissions, and imperceptible shifts that shape perception and experience. It is a reflective and transitory performance, where sound and image function as agents of transformation, dissolving the familiar and inviting contemplation of the unknown.
Savic - alto & soprano saxophone, laptop, live sound processing
Star - laptop, sonic illustration
photos by Udo Siegfriedt