James Hoff HOBO UFO (v. Chernobyl)

James Hoff — HOBO UFO (v. Chernobyl) (PAN 109) James Hoff returns to PAN with a new audio/visual project titled HOBO UFO (v. Chernobyl), which utilizes a modified version of Google’s Street View to explore Chernobyl and its surrounding environs. The artist (with the aid of coder Reuben Son) has hot-wired Street View so that it is audio reactive, creating a first-person viewing experience completely dictated by music Hoff has created. Originally commissioned by Unsound Festival, Hoff began working on this version of HOBO UFO in 2017, creating over an hour of music that had the hallmarks of his work on BLASTER: noisy, intense, and chaotic. After spending dozens of hours on Street View while composing, Hoff decided to visit the zone of exclusion in 2018 and his experience there prompted him to scrap all the existing material and start fresh with a less conceptual approach that could respond more emotionally to the zone and his experience there. In particular, he focused on Pripyat, which prior to the meltdown