Pixelated Ancestors investigates the liminal space between ancestral memory and emerging technologies. blending audio-reactive visuals, lasers, cello, and ancestral tape samples to explore animism and folklore through performance, connecting nature and technology, analog and digital.
Through this project, I aim to create performances where technology becomes an extension of the ancient—where ancestral voices pulse through light and sound, opening portals between times, cultures, and inner worlds.
At the heart of this project is a question: How do ancestral voices resonate in the digital age?
My workflow balances technology with intuitive creativity, modulating colour palettes, vocal layers, and rhythmic structures through a multi-angle approach.
"Live Medley"
Sampled voice of great-grandmother Ingibjörg Gudmundsdóttir (1891-1994), opens into 'What is B4 You' (Icelandic folksong guitar loops with original lyrics), followed by an improvised cello section with effects over real-time loops—the introductory movement to 'Sorcery,' with audio-reactive laser lights.
August 21st, 2025, Brooklyn, NYC
Draw the Line ft. Ingibjörg Guðmundsdóttir:
Live performance of 'Draw the Line' incorporating archival recordings ofIngibjörg Gudmundsdóttir. Building from manipulated cello loops and ancestral vocals into an original composition.
Mothership NYC, August 27th, 2025.
Live audiovisual performance of 'Seek Solace' feat. Siide Quest.
Real-time audio-reactive visual projection designed and operated by Tyr Jami.
Mothership NYC, August 2025. Videography by Edward Pankov
Highlights reel - 2024 (music, visuals, performance)
Music and audio-reactive visuals by Tyr Jami
Music and audio-reactive visuals by Tyr Jami
Each excerpt is 1.5-2 minutes
1.Once in a Lifetime
2.Nouvelles Roses
3.The Sacrifice
4.Live excerpt
5.Wait for the Sun
6.Abundance
Stills from 'Nouvelles Roses' featuring audio-reactive visuals with Icelandic landscape footage.
Screenshots of "Abundance", created using archival VHS tape and video effects
(2024)
The visuals of VHS static relate to crossing between the thresholds of the conscious and subconsciousness, blurring the lines of fantasy and reality, analog (VHS) and digital (effects)
Screenshots of "Sleep Darling" (2023)
The "Sleep Darling" visuals depict 4 states of water: Solid, liquid, foam, and vapour.
Each Icelandic folk song and place sampled to create this work carries a story that inspired it, allowing for new interpretations of folk songs and tales.
The Waterfall and the Oak
(Start at 0:17) Treated with Effects
Icelandic Folk Song ‘Fossinn og eikin’ by Páll Jónsson
Sung by Ingibjorg Gudmundsdottir (1891-1994)
The waterfall sang joy and hardship, battle and love, life and death. Day and night, its roots are buried in the dark depths while reaching toward the sun. Love, Freyja, and fate intertwined in its song, as did the enduring strength of the oak tree’s roots. These thematic contrasts also influenced the sonic design.
These sonic interventions serve as portals, inviting audiences into worlds where folklore meets futurism.