What was Synchrodogs' role in the visual identity for WXAXRXP?

When working on the campaign for Warp's 30-year anniversary, we created a set of photographs that could informally be called ‘tech vs. nature’. These became a kind of symbiosis of Synchrodogs and Warp identity in general.

Could you explain a little about the Synchrodogs practice and how you work?

Our art is about interdependency of humans and nature, and the new ways Earth begins to look as a result of human intervention in territories that were meant to be wild. We often use our own night time meditation technique (developed over the years) as our main source of inspiration, which mostly deals with catching a moment between wakefulness and sleep. When trying to fall asleep and going into a non-rapid eye movement sleep - a stage during which some people might experience hypnagogic hallucinations - we usually wake ourselves up in the middle of the night to make a note of what we had just seen, so that afterwards those noted ideas could be staged and documented with photography.

How did you approach the brief for this project? Did you draw on Warp’s history?

We worked on creating an exact mood, to make a connection between natural and artificial and have a rebellious sci fi vibe, rather than reflecting on some exact points of history.

What do the images communicate?

They are showing different facets of music which can be turbulent yet still calm, innovative and familiar at the same time.

Where did the photography take place?

We shot in Ukraine. It's where we are from and we know all the wild places here. It was also the most convenient in terms of organising things as we worked with a lot of props, some of which were handmade by us and too fragile to be transported to other countries.

Do the worlds in these images exist in 2019? Or are we looking into the future?

The shots included elements of the classic Warp purple, together with structured yet chaotic geometry to achieve a bold retro-futuristic coherence. In those images we see both past and future. For us it is a kind of emotional abstraction that feels timeless.