Network Music Festival

Sound without Borders // 15-18th July 2020

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Caider

With their audiovisual live performances, Caider (Derek Kwan, music, and Cai Rhuturaje, visuals) utilise the real-time generative capabilities of live and creative coding software to produce immersive and organic experiences.

In his live coded music, Derek draws from the wide array of influences that have shaped him as a musician, including the contemporary classical music that he studied as a percussionist in school, the pop and hip-hop he listened to outside of school, and the glitch and IDM that drew him into the world of electronic music. Using TidalCycles ties into Derek’s practice of improvisation as an instrumentalist and through live coding, he shapes and remixes preconceived song structures and materials guided by the currents of live performance. Making heavy use of random number-controlled processes, Derek cedes control to the computer and allows it to play a significant role as a performer making musical decisions.

As an artist, Cai has been exploring the power of storytelling through various visual formats. Making heavy use of physics simulations and nature-inspired algorithms, Cai also allows the computer to play a significant role as a performer. Utilizing audio-reactive techniques and live input from MIDI controllers, Cai’s visuals transcend their two-dimensional nature and together with Derek’s audio, help create an experience greater than the sum of its parts.

Through the VR Algorave format, Cai and Derek seek to transplant the Bombay Beach algoraves from the beginning of their artistic collaboration into a virtual space reaching worldwide audiences far beyond the desert.


Caider is an audiovisual collaboration between Vancouver-based generative visualist Cai Rhuturaje and California based percussionist and electronic musician Derek Kwan. Formed during the 2020 Brahman.ai art and technology residency where the two met, Caider blends Derek’s pseudo-poppy glitchy live coded music with Cai’s story-telling, audio-reactive visuals. Caider began its life through a series of algoraves in the middle of the desert. These first performances involved multiply-layered projections onto semi-transparent sheets hung amidst a large steel structure and included a collaboration with dancer Yin Cheng-Kokott. In May 2020, Caider realized their desert algorave concept virtually through a live set aboard the Mozilla Hubs-hosted Cyber Yacht. As artists working with digital media living in separate locations, Cai and Derek seek through Caider to investigate the possibilities of artistic collaboration mediated through digital communication and to explore the expressive possibilities of shared digital spaces.

https://derekxkwan.github.io/caider-site/

https://www.instagram.com/shashrvacai/

https://shashrvacai.com/

https://www.instagram.com/dxkzh/

https://twitter.com/derekxkwan

https://derekxkwan.com/

https://soundcloud.com/dxkzh