The transition has been organic: Surabhi Saraf

With a background in experimental sound, Indian classical music and choreography, Surabhi Saraf is an artiste and a musician. This evening she will create a "visually rich immersive sonic experience, using vocals with multiplied sounds of an old mechanical fan, and large video projections of a live-feed of the fan to complement the soundscape." This will be the first track (Spinning Four) that she will perform from her debut album Illuminen EP. The second track is Illuminen, which she says will take the audience on an inward journey negotiating the ideas of entertainment, experience and sensationalism.

Surabhi grew up in a musically-inclined family in Indore, but it was during her time studying at Baroda that she tried to communicate music through paintings, after which she experimented with live music, audio installations and videos and then went on to do a Art and Technology programme at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). "The programme gave me the exposure and resources to experiment with videos and explore the ideas of repetition and multiplication. And sometime after graduation, my videos led me back to live performances and experimental sound. The transition has been quite organic and unpremeditated, with one thing leading to another," she says.

"I was thinking music even when I was painting, and I am thinking sound when I make work now, whether it is video, installation or site-specific public performance. Music and sound have always been an integral part of my life and almost all my works have a sense of music and movement to them," Surabhi says. In another of her album track, Lullaby Daze, she layered her voice 1,600 times to create a rich and densely textured soundscape. Surabhi has been working on sound installations, sound for video and live performances for about six years, but began to compile her album around the start of 2012. The album features her vocals, and other field and studio recordings that she has been making for years.

Her work will be on display at her debut solo exhibition, Illuminen at the Galerie Mirchandani Steinruecke from January 23 to February 28, with four video projections, a project print, a series of public performances and short excerpts from her debut album.

When & Where: Today, 6.30 pm, Max Mueller Bhavan, Kala Ghoda