[aether] remote fairytales - performance invitation bk bk at [nospam] n3krozoft.com Wed Jun 6 16:50:10 CEST 2007 Previous message: [aether] more fun european calls for submissions Next message: [aether] remote fairytales - performance invitation Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] Dear aethernauts the next performance of the aether9 group will be on Thursday 14th of june, online and in brussels at 7 PM in europe = 10 AM california = noon in colombia in an audience packed gallery in the center of Brussels (n3krozoft Ltd will occupy this space for 3 days (see the attached flyer). the performance and the exhibit is called "remote fairytales, contes lontains, fabel op afstand" (last expression is flemmish - brussels is bilingual french/flemish. flemish is very very close to dutch). the idea for this performance: 1) on location in brussels, next to the screen, there will be 2 persons on stage: - Deirdre Foster (she is a storyteller and actress from Geneva) - she will tell her version on the classical tale (from the Grimm brothers) "La jeune fille sans mains" (The girl without hands --> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Without_Hands). - Me, Boris, i will be conferencing the audience about the reunion of an important group of patchers (i'm almost over writing this conference-like text extrapolating from my aether9 experience!) we will intermingle our texts and form a strange dialogue. our idea is that Deirdre & I will be quite confused about what is going on: i will begin my conference by adressing myself to the audience in a similar way and setting (chair, table, lamp) than academic conferences are usually given, with the intention of informing he audience. Deirdre, dressed in a ... fancy way, will then "interrupt me" and start telling her tale, with the intention of enchanting her audience. I will react by answering to her, in my conference mode, but with the intention of understanding what Deirdre is doing here. Deirdre will continue her tale, with the intention of unveiling the question: what am i doing in a digital-media performance? i thought i was in a storyteller convention! etc. and our dialogue will go on according to what happens between us two, the audience and aether9 screens, but we will always stick more or less to the stories we wrote. 2) remote aether9 part: in parralel to the stage action, aether9 remote action will flow on the screen (maybe 2 screens). we didn't develop any script yet. but we want to. the script will integrate formal and narrative elements related to the stage action. sometimes the stage action will be on standby for the screen action to take all the attention. in these moments, formal elements of aether9 will prevail. when the stage action will be running, the narrative elements of aether9 wil prevail, providing a visual tale. i guess that there will be an irc channel for aether9 with somebody in brussels giving cues for actions. our texts are in french and should be translated to some extent in english for everybody to grasp the stories... well for Deirdre's tale, the basis is on the net and for mine i'll adress this later today. we wish that all remote performers have a common "neutral" set , for instance something simple like : a table with a chair, a neutral wall, a picture on the wall, a book and paper + pen or typemachine on the table. this in order to avoid total randomness of the visual aspect and confusion for the viewers (online especially), in order to have some unity. not all performers would be perorming at the same time, and it would be good to have a common neutral state in a way. 3) sound - there will be some sound environnment in the brussel performance. somebody will be in charge of the sound diffusion. we are not thinking of stremaing the sound for the moment. - we would like to invite you to upload some sound files on aether at artslashmedia.ftp server in the >web >"sounds_remote_fairytales" folder - please view D. Lynch "rabbit" project for interesting sound treatment (in our view...) --> here are 2 videos: http://www.bzzp.biz/temp/ (1st episode: full first episode, 10min fragment: 2 min extract) - you could also record yourselves saying short sentences (cf. lynch again). 4) rehearsals - on the 13th of june, one day before the performance, we should do a videocheck to see how everything is running in the gallery (at the same time scheduled for the next day's performance.) - this friday (8th of june), we would like to do a jam session. this session will adress technical problems (the aether9 system was working well on the "electronic café international" session of the 10th of may. since manuel has been working more on the patch and we need to test the latest versions. we will also write some script with formal elements to test how it goes. for instance: - the table setting described before - make a cross between the 9 screens - 2 persons making phone calls at the same time etc. ---------------------------------- so, who will participate in this landmark performance? - to my knowledge, the following aethernauts said that in principle they are ready to take part: Nathalie from paris, Audrey from holland, Paula from medellin, cym from walkendorf, Chris from yorba linda - california. i guess that a group from geneva will do a part too. - Dr. Gomez & the league? - Rhys from australia? (i heard that he would use puppets - that would be good - performance time in au. would be early early in the morning.) - Johan from berlin? - Milena from the brazil group? - Laure form the Kingdom of belgium? -- so we need to know asap: who will be there for the jam session this friday who wishes to take part in the "remote fairytales" perfomance on the 14th of june (and, if possible, the rehearsal on the 13th of june). all ideas, suggestion, disagreements etc. welcome and awaited!!! i love this team! looking forward, Boris [aether] last news and performance preparation bk bk at [nospam] n3krozoft.com Sat Jun 9 14:44:31 CEST 2007 Previous message: [aether] remote fairytales - performance invitation Next message: [aether] last news and performance preparation Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] hello aethernauts, we jammed yesterday with laure_bruxell1, paula_medellin, manu_geneva, boris_brussel2 and amirali_teheran (chat&images) + christiaan_california, cym_walkendorf, ideakritik_rotterdam and the league_california (chat only) no script was established so it began slowly in a quite random jam, then ideakritik brilliantly gave cues according to elements of the "girl without hands" tale. it lasted 3 hours or so. -- technical conclusions: - the viewing 9frame html page works great (i attached some screenshots, some slots are black because we weren't 9) - for maxers: the patch upload_109 works perfectly - for ftp uploaders: it works well also this means that the transmission system for next thursday's performance is fully fonctional! -- practical conclusions: - we all agreed that it is extremely helpfull to be 2 persons for the performance, for example: 1 person in charge of following the irc chat for the cues, for the computer manipulations and the camera manipulations 1 person in charge of the image (as actor, puppetist, drawer etc) - we need a fine tuned script - this script should be finished on wednesday at the latest. (see my propositions below) - each performer needs a clear method. everybody develops one naturally, but it's better to find it before the performance than during the performance... will you use a fix or moving camera? etc etc. we need law&order: more the formal aspects are defined, the better it "feels" (knowing that anyway it will be quite hazardeous - i like this struggle). it's possible at any time now to upload images and visualise it on >http://1904.cc/aether/ >new test interface!!! - perform simple & small things we may think that what we are uploading is not "rich" or interesting enough, but then we forget that there are 8 other images! - react quicky & act slowly it's difficult to be all alert & super fast to react to cues and in the same way remember not to rush the action - obviously prepare a maximum of stuff before the beggining, in this way you can concentrate on less things during the performance. maxers: - use the 109 for upload and the htlm 9frame page to view (not the more complex upload_107 patch, wich may crash) - use the start/stop button often - do not constantly upload images. press the stop button to rearrange the setting and prepare for next actions. pressing once "start" then immediatly press "stop" will upload just one image. this is great to create controlled animations (although it's hard to control the order of the images, but it's verry fun nevertheless). -- proposals for the basis of the script: - the script form in grid that we used for the first aether9 performance was great i think. - it is now certain that we will use the "Girl Without Hands" tale. Deirdre will tell it during the performance in brussels (we don't know exaclty "how") - think it would be efficient and elegant to make a clear distinction between when we upload "formal" elements (like "film an empty desk before an empy chair") and "narrative" elements like ("The devil sends a messenger to kill the queen and daugther!") i guess some of us prefer to do a performance with emphasis on formal visuals, while others are more interested in emphasizing the video-storytelling - it's different types of freedom and constraint. both aspects are very important but cannot realistically be reunited by every single performer yet (because it would need so much preparation). one way to do this would be to have a constant distinction on the screen between who is working "fomal" and who is working "narrative". yesterday when everybody displayed an empty chair - the impression was striking! common action works, and they never fail to create an extremely deep impression. but the formal elements should always be thought of as going with the tale in a way but not interpretating it litterally. all this shall be scripted of course. - the n3krozoft team can edit the script according to all the input on the mailing list and related discussions, but if somebody or a group wants to take the responsability to put this sript together, it would be a great relief for us (because we are also in the rush of preparing the exhibit: building fine zoetropes, editing dvd's, printing very large video stills and more...). Please anonce it asap if you want to do this. -- lineup for thursday the 14th: sure: cym, laure, paula, nathalie, christiaan maybe: geneva, amirali:teheran, ideakritik no news: johan (berlin), alejo --> so we aren't ready yet participation-wise (there won't be any live performance in the brussel gallery space itself.) -- lookking forward, boris [aether] tommorow's jam session - details bk bk at [nospam] n3krozoft.com Thu Jun 7 21:58:42 CEST 2007 Previous message: [aether] endless shores Next message: [aether] 2 small corrections Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] hello! tommorow's (8.06.2007) jam session is at 9 PM in europe Noon in califonia 10 AM in colombia 11 PM in moscow new working patches!!! new 9 frame viewer html-page!!! --- a couple exercices for us: -let's try to upload monochromatic images only at times (whether with colored light if you have or filters to put in front of the camera or any other way we can find) please prepare to upload images using red, blue and yellow. + darkness (not total) - anything that has to do with the "Girl without hands" tale is welcome. - if your camera films a setting with a wall (and some picture on it), a table, a chair and sombody (you?) sitting behind the table, perfect! (would be nice to try this all at the same time). --- server list. 08.06.2007 1 | 2 | 3 4 | 5 | 6 7 | 8 | 9 Frame 1 - http://1904.cc/~aether/1 Frame 2 - http://1904.cc/~aether/2/ Frame 3 - http://10111.org/~aether/0/ Frame 4 - http://10111.org/~aether/1/ Frame 5 - http://artslashmedia.net/~aether/5/ Frame 6 - http://aether.front.ru/6/ Frame 7 - http://aether.front.ru/7/ Frame 8 - http://aether.smtp.ru/cym/ Frame 9 - http://aether.smtp.ru/9/ for ftp uploaders: username and password on each server are the same as usual. In each case the jpegs are now named 0x.jpg to 9x.jpg (except for cym, who uses arbitrarily frame 8. your jpg is named pw.jpg) the html interface will be available tomorrow, linked from 1904.cc/aether participants should announce on the list which frame they want to use. for maxers: use the latest patch: http://1904.cc/kode/upload_107.zip (22 k) or, if the new javaobjects aren't working, use this simplified version (without visual feedback; you'll visualise through the html interface) - http://1904.cc/kode/upload_109.zip (18 k) --- boris ps: i will gladly use frame no. 7! [aether] brussels performance report bk bk at [nospam] n3krozoft.com Sat Jun 16 15:04:32 CEST 2007 Previous message: [aether] Tesla in NYC? Next message: [aether] aether Digest, Vol 2, Issue 15 Messages sorted by: [ date ] [ thread ] [ subject ] [ author ] hello all, we just opened the gallery this morning in brussels for the last day of the exhibit here. i write now a little performance report ///// 1. Mother Nature we where about ready (one hour before the performance) when mother nature invited herself it started to rain and rain and rain and all at once, water filtered through the roof of the large performance hall and poured in buckets on our command table we ran to unplug the curent and move tables in the dark to protect the computers and cameras and stuff the sound was ear-crushing: torrential rain in 5 minutes, there was 5 cm of water everywhere and we where soaked... and sort of annoyed... so we rushed to transfer everything from the big hall to the smaller exhibit hall while the lady-gallerist was calling the fire department ///// 2. Action quite stessfull we managed to be not too late for the beginning and the performance started in front of about 30 people (that where brave enough to come in spite of the exceptional storm) some more walked in during the show they where welcomed with champagne and other drinks Deirdre told the tale in a baroque white dress colored by the projection rays Chloe mixed discreet sounds & music Boris told his story sitting in front of the audience on a desk while trying to film his part of the tale. Manuel managed the projected images and chated on the skype conference ///// 3. Audience reaction some people where quite confused, but most of them liked it to put it simply and shortly. /////// 4. Debriefing it was hard to be fully concentrate under these climatic conditions - but it was exciting... - as there was no actual stage anymore, Deirdre found it extremely difficult to properly perform her craft, storytelling. she also feels frustration that we didn't have enough time to prepare a more refined "mise en scene" between her and Boris. - Manuel was trying to give cues according to Deirdre's words, and obviously it was going much too quick for the remote performers (& for manuel also who had to solve some techicalities...) - it was a BIG mistake to do so. we apologize for that. a better thing would be for the performers to switch between acts every 3 minutes for instance - like that everything would be co-ordinated whitout questions... it is a shame really that the performers weren't able to display their work in a calm manner with sufficient time to do so. this will not happen again. - Boris is basically satisfied of the opportunity to read loud his speech (adapted for the circumstance...). -- pictures & movies will come soon on the aether website. and check cristiaan site: http://zurcnaaitsirhc.blogspot.com/ -- à bientôt, Boris