Client: Composer Quốc Trung and production team Role: Audio reactive visual design, development and live VJ (one performance) Tools: TouchDesigner (custom pipeline), MIDI controller Collaborators: Thanh Chu, Sam McGlip and Veronica Performance: Luu Lac

"Lối" was a concert by composer Quốc Trung that brought Vietnamese folk traditions together with electronic and world music, performed by artists across several generations. Visual Obscurity was invited to create a live visual for one performance in the programme.

The work draws from the masks of Tuồng and Chèo, Vietnamese classical theatre forms that have carried stories for centuries through bold, expressive characters.

The idea: let the mask breathe with the music.

Four different masks, looped across the performance

Black and white masks set against abstract red fire

Fire textures that shift and pulse with each beat and phrase

Full screen: one central mask fills the screen as the main visual moment

Split: two masks sit on either side, leaving the middle open for the live camera feed of the performer

This let the visual step forward or step back depending on the moment, so the performer was never competing with the screen.

Built entirely in TouchDesigner through a custom pipeline

Each parameter was designed as a playable control and mapped to a MIDI controller:

Performed live as a VJ set, so every shift in the visual could follow the performer in the moment

The visual was performed live from the booth, alongside the lighting and show control team. Stage lighting.

A cross-border team: Scotland, Australia and Vietnam. Thanh Chu brought Visual Obscurity into the project, and the show was the first in-person meeting with fellow visual artists Sam and Veronica.

Traditional Vietnamese theatre imagery translated into a live, playable digital instrument

A flexible system that worked both as a hero visual and as a frame for live camera