Another Language Performing Arts Company

Another Language Performing Arts Company and the University of Utah is searching for dancers to participate in the telematic cinema performance of InterPlay: Event Horizon, choreographed and directed by Elizabeth Miklavcic (Artistic Director). Prospective dancers must be affiliated with an Internet2 institution and have access to an Access Grid facility. The performances will be March 26 - April 04, 2010, with technical and dress rehearsals during March 22 - 25. This project is a celebration of Another Language's 25th anniversary and marks our eighth InterPlay performance.

Please pass this information on to anyone who might have interest. For more information please contact me at jimmy.miklavcic[at]utah.edu or visit www.anotherlanguage.org/interplay

thanks,

Jimmy

Chicago Calling Telematic Performance Event at WNUR and Mills College

Thursday, October 8, 2009 (7:30-9:30 p.m.)

You are invited to attend this Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival event, which features a telematic performance involving musical ensembles at WNUR and at Mills College (Oakland, CA).

LOCATIONS:
WNUR 89.3 FM
1877 Campus Drive
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208

Concert Hall
Mills College
5000 MacArthur Blvd.
Oakland, CA 94613

Performers at WNUR include:
Saalik Ziyad -- vocals
Jayve Montgomery -- reeds and percussion
Dan Godston -- trumpet
Mike Staron -- upright bass
Matt Weston -- percussion

Performers at Mills College include:
Karl A.D. Evangelista -- guitar
Eric Glick Rieman -- piano, toy piano, celeste, melodica
Curtis McKinney -- bass
Lona Kozik -- piano
Drew Ceccato -- reeds
Krzysztof Golinski -- drumset

For those who would like to attend this event at WNUR, there is a $5 suggested donation. Otherwise, you can listen to it at 89.3 FM or online.

* * * *

The Fourth Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival (CCAF4) takes place October 1-11, 2009, featuring Chicago-based artists collaborating in performances and projects with artists living in other locations -- both here in the U.S. and abroad. These collaborations will be prepared or improvised, and some performances will involve live feeds between Chicago and elsewhere. CCAF4 venues include: Little Black Pearl Art & Design Center, Claudia Cassidy Theater at the Chicago Cultural Center, The Velvet Lounge, Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery, Epiphany Church, Columbia College Concert Hall, WNUR, Mercury Café, WLUW, Myopic Bookstore, Café Ballou, Quaker House, Hotti Biscotti, Brown Rice, and other venues. http://www.chicagocalling.org

CCAF4 is being organized by the Borderbend Arts Collective, a not for profit organization. Borderbend’s mission is to promote the arts, to create opportunities for artists to explore new directions in and between art forms, and to engage the community.

Chicago Calling is part of Chicago Artists Month, the fourteenth annual celebration of Chicago’s vibrant visual art community. In October, more than 200 exhibitions of emerging and established artists, openings, demonstrations, tours, open studios and neighborhood art walks take place at galleries, cultural centers and arts buildings throughout the city. For more information, call 312.744.6630. Chicago Artists Month is coordinated by the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and is sponsored by the Chicago Office of Tourism with additional support from 3Arts.

performance configurations: recipes & ingredients

Here are several possibilities:
* Artists in different locations improvise with each other, in an open ended way.

* Come up with musical configurations. For instance, a Musician A in Location A improvises with Musician A in Location B, then MA in LA improvises with MB in LB.

* A schematic can be drawn up so a clearly defined set of sequences can help the performers develop their performances around mutually understood sets of guidelines / scaffolding.

* * *

If you'd like to suggest more performance configurations be included, please mention those in a comment and I could add those to this list.

How Are You Doing?

Chicago artist Laura Mayer has launched an interesting new audio art project - http://howareyoudoingproject.com Anyone can call in on an 800 number and record their answer. The artist then curates and posts the best material culled from these random voicemails and posts it on the website.

This is the type of audio art project I've long wanted to do. It's interactive, and involves collaboration with an anonymous public via phones. There are a bunch of new web tools springing up that allows work like this to be created. Just a few years ago these free/low cost tools didn't exist. I'll be highlighting a few more of these tools in future posts.

Sonic Bridge 2

a telematic performance event
Tuesday, March 24, 2009 (8 p.m. CST / 7 p.m. MST / midnight Buenos Aires)

Hundreds of miles of wall and fence stretch along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the U.S. Immigration Policy is going in a different direction now, as the Obama administration moves forward. Performers at Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery will be part of a telematic performance event which will perpendicularly run through the U.S.-Mexico border wall/fence, in conjunction with sound artists and musicians who live in Tucson, Mexico City, Vera Cruz, and Buenos Aires. Artists in these remote locations will interact with each other in real time. Although people have many different opinions about what should be done about the U.S.-Mexico border/fence and the U.S.’ Immigration Policy, it is a good that ideas and sound can travel freely across borders.

at Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery (Chicago)
Amanda Gutierrez -- laptop
Dan Godston -- trumpet & small instruments
Jayve Mongtomery -- saxophone & percussion
Carlos Cumpian -- poetry
Noe Cuellar -- laptop
Wiliwaw -- amplified ukulele
Ian Hatcher

at KAMP (Tucson):
Glenn Weyant -- Kestrel 920
Steev Hise -- electronics & samples
streaming live at http://kamp.arizona.edu/

in Mexico City:
Kai Kraatz -- Nordlead
Daniel Lara -- FAT BOX
Antonio Dominguez -- video

in Veracruz:
Ernesto Romero -- laptop

in Buenos Aires:
Buenissimo Collective
Valeria Cammano Caamaño
Agustin Genoud
Leonello Zambon
Josefina Zuain
Azucena Losana -- video

Elastic Sound & Vision Gallery
2830 N. Milwaukee Ave., 2nd floor
Chicago, IL
$7 suggested donation

Sonic Bridge 2 happens during the week of Sound Megalopolis, in Mexico City.

Click here to visit the Sonic Bridge blog.

audio from Sonic Bridge 2:
1st segment
2nd segment
3rd segment
4th segment
5th segment
6th segment
7th segment
8th segment
9th segment
10th segment

Distributed Audience

I watched the Mark Dresser performance video and really enjoyed the music. The issue that really struck me though was the lack of a distributed audience. We often struggle with this problem in our own performances. I feel that a telematic performance should include, in its process, the development of a distributed audience that shares in the experience. So far, many of the telematic performances that I have seen or read about focus the attention to building an audience at the host site. For example, in Mark Dresser's performance, there seemed to be audience at the main theater and none at the other two sites.

Another Language continues to work on this problem. We see it manifested in several ways. One site of collaborators are graduate students that have the drive and desire to be involved in developing this form but do not have the technical or facility support from their respective department. They must perform in a classroom because the performance spaces do not have the computing or network infrastructure to support their particpation. Other sites utilze adapted visualization labs associated with their institution's high performance computing facilities.

I really would like to see the next phase of telematic performance really focus on distributed audiences. I think this is the only way to increase the attention to this nebulous art form.
--------------------
Thanks for your comment. What you saw gave you an inaccurate idea of what was happening. The performance had three local audiences. Also there was an Ichat stream between the three locations. In addition there was the perspective you saw posted on youtube which showed the performance from one vantage point only, the San Diego, space.
We had hoped to create one equally distributed virtual space, but it was beyond our resources at the time. It is a good point, however.
Mark Dresser

Sonic Bridge

Friday, January 23 (9:30 p.m. CST / 1:30 a.m. Buenos Aires)

Hundreds of miles of wall and fence stretch along the U.S.-Mexico border, and the U.S. Immigration Policy could change soon since Barack Obama is now the U.S.’s 44th President. Performers at Brown Rice were part of a telematic performance event which perpendicularly ran through the U.S.-Mexico border wall/fence, in conjunction with sound artists and musicians who live here in Mexico City and Buenos Aires. Artists in these remote locations interacted with each other in real time --

1. in Buenos Aires: Azucena Losana, Matthew Golombisky (upright bass), Jorge Crowe, and Colectivo BUENISSSIMO (Agustin Genoud, Josefina Zuain, Valeria Caamaño, and Leonello Zambon)

2. in Mexico City: Amanda Gutierrez, Ezequiel Netri Collective with Tito, Kai Kraatz, Jaime Villareal, and Changorama Collective (Rafael Cauto, Zaratustra Vasquez, and David Somellera)

3. at Brown Rice: Christopher Preissing (flute), Gregory O'Drobinak (arc of the oven), Williwaw (amplified ukulele), Jayve Montgomery (reeds and percussion), and Dan Godston (trumpet)

Although people have many different opinions about what should be done about the U.S.-Mexico border/fence and the U.S.’ Immigration Policy, it is a good that ideas and sound can travel freely across borders.

Brown Rice
4432 N. Kedzie Ave., 1st floor
Chicago, IL 60625
Sonic Bridge blog
Brown Rice channel on ustream.tv

Deep Tones for Peace

From Deep Tones for Peace: "Deep Tones for Peace Now! is a daily streaming of live meditations for peace in the Middle East over the internet using ustream.tv." On April 25, a group of bassists including Thierry Barbe, Han Han Cho, Mark Dresser, Lisle Ellis, Dean Ferrell, Ken Filiano, Irina-Kalina Goudeva, Henry Grimes, J.C. Jones, Michael Klinghoffer, Rob Nairn, Chi Chi Nwanoku, William Parker, Barre Phillips, David Phillips, Bertram Turetzky, Sarah Weaver, and James Ilgenfritz will perform an internet performance between Jerusalem and New York. This is an excellent cause, and what a great way to express the desire for peace.

telematic arts-related publications

BOOKS
The Robot in the Garden, by Ken Goldberg

Telematic Embrace: Visionary Theories of Art, Technology, and Consciousness, edited by Edward Shanken

Women, Art, and Technology, by Judy Malloy

* * *

MAGAZINES
The Leonardo Music Journal

Networked Music Review

* * *

ARTICLES
"Networked Sonic Spaces," by Jerome Joy and Peter Sinclair

history of telematic arts

A History of Telematic Art: Australian Perspective

Networked Music & Sound Art Timeline, by Jerome Joy

If you'd like to add a comment to this post, I will add more to this.

contributors to the field of telematic arts

Robert Adrian (Vienna)

Keith Armstrong

Roy Ascott

Nurit Bar-Shai

Bill Bartlett
The Western Front

Liza Bear
Liza Bear's work on VDB

John Bischoff

Chris Brown

Chris Chafe, CCRMA Director, Musician

Scott Deal
Telematic Collective

Mark Dresser
e-lecture entitled "Telematic Performance"
"Tapping into a Mesmerizing Telematic Tapestry at UCSD" (San Diego Union-Tribune article, 11/2/2008)
telematic performance video on youtube

Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.)
E.A.T. Revisited (2008)

Kit Galloway
Electronic Cafe International
Satellite Arts Project '77

Jesse Gilbert

Ken Goldberg

Jo-Anne Green

Jerome Joy (France)

Eduardo Kac

Rafael Lozano-Hemmer

Judy Malloy

Elizabeth Miklavcic and Jimmy Miklavcic
with Another Language Performing Arts Company and the University of Utah Center for High Performance Computing. They have been creating telematic performances since 2003.
Performances created by Another Language (Salt Lake City)
InterPlay: Intransitive Senses (2003)
InterPlay: Hallucinations (2004)
InterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box (2005)
InterPlay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek (2006)
InterPlay: Nel Tempo di Sogno (2007)
InterPlay: Carnivale (2008)

Nam June Paik
Good Morning, Mr. Orwell (1984)

Paul Serman (United Kingdom)

Helen Thorington

Pauline Oliveros
Deep Listening Institute
The Telematic Circle

Sherri Rabinovitz
Electronic Cafe International
Satellite Arts Project '77

Sarah Weaver

Norman White (Canada)
interview with Norman White on the Open Space Gallery website
Telephonic Arm Wrestling (1986)

Robert Whitman

If you add names of individuals in a comment, I could add those to this list.

examples of telematic performances

IN NORTH AMERICA
"North by South" (AlienNation, Houston TX, 5/21/1998)

telematic performances produced by Another Language:
InterPlay: Intransitive Senses (2003)
InterPlay: Hallucinations (2004)
InterPlay: Loose Minds in a Box (2005)
InterPlay: Dancing on the Banks of Packet Creek (2006)
InterPlay: Nel Tempo di Sogno (2007)
InterPlay: Carnivale (2008)
InterPlay: AnARTomy (2009)

IN LATIN AMERICA

IN EUROPE

IN ASIA

IN AFRICA

If you'd like to comment on this post, I could add to this.

telematic performance check list

Here are several things to cover to consider as you put together your own telematic performance:

* Make sure that all the artists have had enough tech runs so they are comfortable with the hardware and software they are using.

* Make sure that everyone involved is aware of the range of possibilities and limitations that are associated to telematic performances. It would be a good idea for all the artists involved with an upcoming telematic performance to explore the history, current advances, and upcoming potential regarding telematic performances, so they can have a realistic sense of the possibilities and limitations.

* How can the parameters suggested by telematic performances spark ideas about how to creatively investigate and explore new creative possibilities?

* Make sure you have given yourself enough time for tech set up, on the day of the performance.

* Make sure that each remote location has sufficient tech support. The tech support people should be in a chat session while the performance is happening -- so progress can be monitored, dynamics can be communicated to other locations, and creative and meaningful troubleshooting can occur.

* All the artists should be on the same page, in terms of of the performance plan. Whether the event will involve open improvisation, compositions, time constraints, or other dynamics and variables, everyone should be clear with each other and in agreement about what the plan is. If one plan has to be abandoned or adjusted to accommodate a contingency plan, is everyone all right with this potential?

* Is everyone comfortable with "rolling with it," in case something does go awry? Sometimes what seems like a mistake can be integrated into the creative process, with interesting results. If it's not going well, everyone should be comfortable with the performance stopping (at least temporarily) until tech issues can be resolved.

* * *

What are some other possibilities? If you'd like to add a comment, I could add more to this post.

telematics logistics: software & hardware

GENERAL SETUP
There are many ways a telematic performance can be set up, in terms of equipment -- so audio (and video) can be transmitted. There are many advantages to doing a performance in a venue (such as a radio station, studio, or some other venue) where the equipment is already there. Internet 2 is the most powerful internet connection you could use, but many venues do not have that connection/capability. DSL or broadband are good. If you decide to do it in another venue where you have to set up the equipment, here are some suggestions:
* Make sure you have good internet connection, preferrably DSL or broadband. Use an ethernet cable, rather than Wifi, since the connection will be better that way. (There is still not a guarantee that the connection will remain constant, and in fact you can count on there being breaks and latency in the connection), but using an ethernet cable can help.
* Make sure you have a good sound interface with your computer. You could just mic the room, but if you can it would be best to mic every instrument.
* Set up monitors so you can hear how the sound mix in the room is working out, as well as the sound that's coming in from the remote locations. A sound engineer should be there to adjust levels. Maybe one person can manage both the sound levels and make sure the internet connection is solid, but you might need two tech/sound people in each venue.

There are other basic set up strategies, but the aforementioned on is a basic one that seems to work.

* * *

SOFTWARE
Google Talk

iChat

Jack Trip

MSN Messenger

Ninjam

oovoo

Silverlight

Skype
pros:
1. It is easy to download, install, and use.
cons:
1) There are latency issues. Sometimes the delays can be two or more seconds.
2) Since it is geared for talking, it is not very good for simultaneous transmission of sound -- from two or more locations.
3) Although you can set up multiple locations for an audio conference call, you can only see video from two locations simultaneously.
precautions:
1) Be sure to do a number of tech runs. Make sure the audio heard in each location is at least tolerable. If the audio is too distorted or there are other problems, the settings should be adjusted.

Ustream

* * *

HARDWARE
microphones
* What kind of microphones are you using?
* Are you planning on miking the whole room, close miking the instruments, or some other microphone configuration?

If you'd like to add a comment to this, I could add more to this post.

examples of telematic performances in the Chicago area

2006
* Sarah Weaver conducted her Weave Soundpainting Orchestra, and WSO was connected via the internet with an orchestra in Troy, New York. That orchestra was conducted by Pauline Oliveros. This event occurred at the Empty Bottle on 10/25/2006.

2007
* Weave Soundpainting Orchestra was connected with another ensemble during a telematic performance which occurred at Loyola University in 3/2007.

2008
* An emsemble at WNUR performed with an ensemble at Mills College (Oakland, CA), as well as the Jones-Kuhl jazz duo (Richond, VA), on 10/2/2008. Skype was used for the connection with Mills College, and a cell phone was used for the connection with the Jones-Kuhl duo.
* Carol Genetti and Alice Hui-Sheng Chang (Taipei) performed a duet, using a cell phone. This performance occurred at AV-aerie on 10/12/1008. Part of the Third Annual Chicago Calling Arts Festival.

2009
* "Telematic Skip," a telematic performance event connecting musicians, visual artists, and dancers in Taipei, Boston, and Chicago (at Brown Rice on 1/9/09)
* "Sonic Bridge," a telematic performance event connecting sound artists, musicians, and video artists in Argentina, Mexico, and Chicago (at Brown Rice on 1/23/09)

Welcome to the Telematic Arts blog!

The purpose of this blog is to facilitate discussion about telematic arts, including:
* a (somewhat fragmented) history of telematic arts
* backgrounds regarding some individuals and organizations that have contributed to this field
* resources for artists who are interested in organizing their own telematic projects
* examples of telematic practices that have worked and methods that could be fine tuned

Telematic performances have been happening for more than 30 years. Often telematic performances have occurred in academic settings. However, since technology has improved so much over the past several years and a variety of software can be used for telematic performances, more people have been doing telematic performances other venues such as bars, art galleries, converted warehouse spaces, and so on.