Cobi van Tonder

Born in Pretoria/South Africa.

Cobi van Tonder aka OTOPLASMA, is a composer, producer and performer of interactive electronic music and other digital media. She has worked with various dance choreographers, video artists and actors. She also produces for cinema, television, radio and mobile media.

Cobi van Tonder has a BHons in Music in History and Society ( University Of The Witwatersrand ) ; a National Diploma in Light Music (Technikon Pretoria) and a National Certificate in Musical Theatre (Technikon Pretoria). She is currently based in California enrolled in the Stanford MFA program 2007/2009 with focus on Digital Video Art and Computer Music.

Selected projects: “Flux” (music for a MTV-filler, in collaboration with R. Faria and T. Wolmarans, 2001), “Destination Installation” (sound installation telling the story of redundancy, Capital Theater, Pretoria, 2001), “Otoplasma” (solo performance of live electronic music and real-time video, OppiKoppi Festival for Rock/Jazz and Dance Music, Pretoria, 2002), “Sea of Tranquility” and “Elac” (CD releases of electronic music composed and produced by Cobi van Tonder aka Otoplasma, 2003 and 2004), “Ephemeral Gumboots” (digital dance music performance, performed at multiple venues in Johannesburg and as an installation at the Ogaki Biennale in Japan, 2004/2005). She was awarded the DIGI-ARTS Digital Pluralism – UNESCO Digital Arts Prize 2003 for “Ephemeral Gumboots”.

Cobi van Tonder is currently doing further research into interactive music and art with the focus on sensors and audio/visual mappings in California for a project called Skatesonic, which involves electronic skateboards that map the movement of skateboard riding into a musical game.