All four members bring something unique to the group, but it’s their collective passion for collaboration and selfless sharing of expertise that makes Harmonic Laboratory successful. The four-year-old multidisciplinary art collective, which has already made a name for itself within the University of Oregon community, is set to take its intermedia collaboration to the next level this weekend with Four Corners — an evening of music, dance and digital media.

The event, a multimedia experience that seamlessly weaves what are often considered distinct fields of art into one spectacle, takes center stage at the Hult Center’s Soreng Theater Friday and Saturday nights at 8 p.m.

“You’re not going to find something like this in the area; it’s unique and one of a kind,” said Jon Bellona, one of the group’s digital artists and composers.

Bellona was the last to join the group, but his role as an intermedia artist is as important as anyone else’s. The group was founded in 2009 when Brad Garner, John Park and Jeremy Schropp put their heads together to heighten the artistic involvement in a piece Garner dreamed up about volcanoes — Harmonic Tremors. Since that first performance, the group has fine-tuned its definition of collaboration and is putting together what members hope will be an unforgettable show at Four Corners.

“We’re ramping up the real-time live element and making this a much bigger and more interactive performance,” said Schropp, the group’s primary musician and composer.

Four Corners, which debuts Friday evening at the Hult Center, demands the flawless coordination of 30 individuals, each working to intensify the performance with the artistic specialty he or she brings to the table. The event features two popular local bands — Hamilton Beach and Medium Troy — as well as nine dancers, a string octet and guest performers from as far away as New York City.

Although not many artists work together the way these four do — considering that this type of collaboration demands a selflessness that few possess — Harmonic Laboratory has managed to make itself comfortable in a relatively empty niche.

“A big part of the collaboration has to do with us being really flexible with each other and generous with our own knowledge … sometimes there might be kind of a conflict between what’s better for dance and what’s better for animation … and I need to be flexible and say, ‘I’m going to give this time to the dancers and pull back from the visual element of the work,’ and other times we’ll see if we can downplay the dance a little bit and bring up the visuals in the background,’” said Park, who works in the UO’s digital arts program. ”It’s about what’s best for the overall piece and how we can all be generous.”

Garner, who coordinates with the dancers and choreographs the movement elements of the production, says good collaboration requires a bit more motivation and communication than many performers consider.

“Our collaboration is not a gimmick; it’s an extension of each of our own art. We’re all accomplished artists and we’re choosing to come together because we believe that this is a valuable way of expressing new kinds of work. We believe that there is a kind of work that goes so far past your ego,” he said. “When you get in a circle and you all contribute to something, the result is very surprising — something none of us could make on our own.”

“It’s about how we can learn from each other and how that paradigm of learning actually is more productive than anything from the traditional model,” Schropp said.

Each of the four artists — the four corners of the group and the show’s namesake — has a focus, but they all believe that it is important to think of art forms more fluidly, without distinct divisions.

“Those categories that we’re supposed to specialize in are kind of breaking down across the world in disciplines and professions. We’re kind of expected to be more than just one thing,” Park said. “We want to show how artists can be more than one group — and that extends to anyone’s life, regardless of whether you’re a digital artist or not. We’re living in a world now where the disciplines are just crumbling.”

Timing, precision and teamwork are all essential for the event to run smoothly. Bellona, Garner, Schropp and Park must ensure that each component — be it a dancer, a melody or even a heart rate monitor reworked to produce music — is synchronized with the others to fully enhance the experience for audience members.

Nathan Asman, who founded the local livetronica band Hamilton Beach, is one of these key components. He has been a part of intermedia productions before, but “never anything quite like this.”

“This is kind of taking it to the next level in terms of creativeness … it’s such a cool combination of different art forms,” he said. “It’s not your everyday show.” 

Four Corners is Harmonic Laboratory’s first real leap out of the UO community — where Park, Bellona and Garner currently work and where Schropp received his Ph.D. — and into the broader Eugene community. Although this is their first large-scale show away from the University, the artists still hope to inspire those back on campus.

Garner, an assistant professor of dance at the UO, hopes his performance will be a good example for his students. “It’s important to have your professors model the kind of behavior you want your students to carry on … it’s kind of ‘practice what you preach,’” he said.

“Some people might be really interested in dance, for example, but might not know anything about electronic music,” Park added. “I think this is a chance for any student or faculty member to understand the connections between these mediums.”

Harmonic Laboratory will push traditional perceptions of art by pulling music, dance and digital media together to give contemporary meaning to “collaboration.” Objects not often associated with these experiences (think Xbox Kinect or a heart-rate monitor) are integrated into the performance.

“It’s really gonna be a kick-ass show,” Bellona assured.