We are please to announce the 2008-2009 Digital Performance Institute Artist Residency projects.

• rope&pulley
  Michael Chladil  
• The Mahler + Machine Project
  Jennifer Tsuei     
• ‘cara viaggio’
  John Kelly 
• Alchemy of Light
  Ruth Sergel     

rope&pulley
Michael Chladil   
www.ropeandpulley.com
Project Summary:       

rope&pulley is a modular and robust system which has been used to construct a four-track collaborative music playback system and a live performance system for synthesizing audio through large drawing gestures. This project contributes to work in the field of new instruments for musical expression (NIME) as a novel interface for controlling and producing music and sound, while simultaneously proposing an alternative to laptop-based audiovisual performance.
I would like to use the DPI residency to develop a live performance using the drawing and audio synthesis capabilities of the system.

The Mahler + Machine Project
Jennifer Tsuei   
www.jeanetteyew.com
Project Summary:       

MAHLER + MACHINE is a installation/pseudo-"performance" piece involving fully embodied, situated robots of the iRobot Create/Roomba platform (and no human actors).  The Roombas can be easily hacked to draw, sing, and dance -- and they will perform these tasks along with selections of Mahler's music.  The true challenge would be to enhance the abilities and "aura" of these machines such that a human audience would project additional, "deeper" human emotions upon these machines.  We intend to dissect and explore the components of contemporary "theater" -- ideas surrounding text, narrative, "multi-media"-ness, the human attention span, and the empathic/non-empathic process -- by taking a more mechanistic, logical approach to theatrical inquiry.  Thus, our project is less a "performance" piece in and of itself, but more a study of what constitutes performance through a variety of combinations of "performative aspects" with robot "actors".  It is our belief that our robots will prove to be the "ideal" actor, acting and reacting "in the moment", with utmost use of its physicality, never breaking "character" and single-mindedly devoted to its "objective".  It is also our belief that we can construct at least one iteration of an "ideal theatrical performance" by embellishing our robots' presences with an "ideal aesthetic environment".

‘cara viaggio’
John Kelly   
www.johnkellyperformance.org
Project Summary:       

I plan to continue my investigation into the dramatic and textural potential of live performance and media (video and sound) by exploring the capabilities of video and sound technology as significant aspects of a live performance.  I have been incorporating film and video projections into my live performance works since the 1980’s; I maintain a sincere interest in its dramatic potential.
The subject matter of "cara viaggio" is the work and life of the 16th century Italian painter Caravaggio, whose and life contained a rich collision of effort, constantly changing circumstance, beauty, sexuality, faith and debauchery.  As a performance and visual artist who works from the vantage point of character and visual texture, this subject matter feels very promising for a live performance containing a significant media component.

Alchemy of Light
Ruth Sergel   
www.streetpictures.org
Project Summary:       

Alchemy of Light is a multi-media performance that melds 19th century illusionism with current interactive technologies to depict the life of the legendary magician Torrini.
Torrini toured the continent with his wife and child performing their astonishing feats of illusion. One evening, during the course of a performance, Torrini made a terrible mistake that resulted in the death of his child. Grief soon claimed his wife and Torrini spent the rest of his days vainly struggling to conjure back his lost family.
There is an aching tension between the promise of technology and our critical need for human interaction and touch. Alchemy of Light mines the history of the 19th century as a mirror to contemporary concerns. In an age when so much of our lives are mediated by machines, Alchemy of Light explores both the wonder and limitations of technology in the things most precious to us.

THE STRANGER
Kristin Marting   
here.org
Project Summary:       

THE STRANGER is a multi-media performance inspired by Henrik Ibsen's THE LADY FROM THE SEA.  Leda – once New York's art rock goddess – now lives a different life as wife to a psychiatrist on Cape Cod.  But a Dionysian figure from her past, The Stranger, refuses to release her.  Torn with grief as she mourns the death of her infant child, Leda confronts the disorder and outsized desire The Stranger always brings.  Is it time to let him back in?
Through extensive use of live feed and pre-recorded POV imagery on multiple screens, we explore the psyche of a troubled woman and her struggles to distinguish between past, present and future.

Robostage
John Reaves
Website: www.digitalperformance.org/blogs/john          
Project Summary:       

The Robostage / Character Lab Project will explore to development of character and personality in robots that are part of a performance or narrative installation. We are also interested in broadening the concept of a robot to include synchronized digital media objects within the space.