Clubscene with Content
Virtual World Orchestra
The Old Fruitmarket in downtown Glasgow became the clubscene where the real-virtual live performance event Virtual World Orchestra, a project of NVA Organization, took place on April 4, 5 & 6. More than a dozen international performance artists, musicians, and computer specialists gathered in Glasgow to transform the drizzly, cold, Gothic environment into a warm, pulsing live action event that took place on-line as well as on-site.
Directed by Angus Farquhar, of NVA (and a former Test Department member) the project idea began with an INVITATION TO PARTICIPATE, sent out worldwide in Autumn of 1996, to every country that was connected to Internet. Individuals around the globe were given three questions, which were translated into 15 languages! (respondents were encouraged to answer in their native dialect). They were:
- 1. inside: what personal experience inspired you most recently?
- 2. outside: what local event has affected you most recently?
- 3. future: how do you see life 100 years from now?
In response, answers from over 160 countries were received, which VWO hoped would determine "...the ways, sounds and images that affects the way each of us sees the world, and informs what we have to say." Every reply was visible immediatley, directly on the website www.vwo.mcg.gla.ac.uk/ where they remain on view. And, answers range from simple statements to lengthy philosophical inquiry, they span the global attitudes on life and death. Segments from the stories were woven into texts by Dael Orlandersmith, and sounds and images received by the public were integrated into the live "verbal tapestry" of sounds and texts.
Alongside the real performance event, images were sent out to the global public from a webcam, at 30 second intervals. A RealAudio transmission was sent live from the Old Fruitmarket, from beginning to end of the "multi-media concert". Daily, a one and a half hour edited version was broadcast over M-bone (multicast backbone) as a live video signal. In 1995, NVA created the spectacular performance event "Stormy Waters" was the first event in Europe to be broadcast live --worldwide-- using the M-bone network. See:www.stormy.gla.ac.uk/ for documentation & details.
At the event, in real-time, the audience was offered four color-coded booths when they entered the hall:
- 1. White - FREEDOM: free access to wander about the vast space
- 2. Red - MEDICAL CENTRE: which requested samples of body fluids, which after taken from audience members was subjected to microscopic analysis and set immediately to large projections screens around the atrium.
- 3. Green - PASSPORT CONTROL: NSK Passport Office Glasgow - issuing of passports, and becoming citizens of NSK, which proudly states "Art is fanaticism that demands Diplomacy".
- 4. Blue - CONFESSIONAL BOOTH: statements were taken randomly throughout the night by roving laptop "scribes" who sent answers to the "questions" directly to the large screens surrounding the space.
The interior/exterior environment was designed to mirror the real/virtual, and brought a unique sense of the global audience to the Old Fruitmarket hall. From 22.00 (10 pm) the entertainment began. But, this was not a common "party" but rather, a clubscene with content. The first events, a series of robotic and light sculptures, included Nicholas Anatol-Baginsky's "killer mosquitos" which hung from the vast ceiling of the hall emitting eerie forboding sounds, and summoning the audience to gather together underneath. Following, came the cellular projections of Dr. Graeme Tydeman, a Gynocologist/Inventor/Performance Artist who capped off his visual amazing display of cell structures by descending from the roof suspended inside of a weather baloon. Projections onto this embryonic form concluded in a big bang birth.
Dr. Tydeman also designed the total interior of the Old Fruitmarket as a flexible multimedia set for a variety of experiences throughout the night.
New York based poetess Dael Orlandersmith, delivered her forceful oratory disclaiming the techno scene, to the oohs and aahs of the young hip crowd beneath her on the dance floor. Her message, loud and clear, demanded more skin-to-skin action and less Internet fantasy. Immediately following, the Sativa drummers from Edinburgh, Scotland marched through the thick crown, with a full drum march that stopped the hearts of many present. Dressed in white flight suits, and beaming blue lasers from their headset goggles, they called to attention the machine-body interface and the potential for full control.
Stelarc, the Australian multi-media performance artist and body artist, premiered a new work "Parasite" for Virtual World Orchestra. In this piece, he extends the Ping Body Performance (link to former texts on Stelarc) by using a custom designed search engine to build a virtual nervous system. He says, "...this program, which searches the Internet for images of body parts, uses the optical input it finds to control my muscles...". A new experience for the Glasgow audience, Stelarc's newly constructed meta-body was transmitted in multiple images in the hall, and in camshots through-out the Internet.
Closing the performance section, NSK delivered a global address to the Scottish Audience, which was carried live on Real Audio. In this, he made an ironic attack on "...the cult of the individual in decadent Western art...and challenged the audience to become part of the NSK global state."
From 23.30 (11.30 pm) the world music began, with Dr. Rapaniki, a live set of ambient marimba, djembe, marimba and rapaniki, featuring Angus Farquhar, Gus Fergusson and MC Nordin Zaoui. They were joined by the 10 member Sativa drummers, which was mixed live and transmitted via RealAudio over Internet. A new CD will be released in the next weeks of this music, which has been in studio production awaiting the final live act at Virtual World Orchestra.
This event, which was billed as Clubland meets performance for a digital world party, was funded by the Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Arts Council, and the EEC Kaleidoscope fund. Scottish Telecom provided the Internet routing and hardware, Sun Microsystems provided workstations for the event, Scotland on Line was the Internet Service Provider. and Virgin Net (Gavin Starks) provided the Real Audio Broadcast service. The remote viewing experience, a mix of live action, however, was often turned into a feedback of data, and it was not always easy to follow the action by Internet. This is an event I preferred to be present at...to feel and to participate in, skin-to-skin. Watching the webcam on Sunday night, I felt very distant to the scene I had witnessed the night before. Fortunately, I still have time to make across town to the final act.
For additional information:
Angus Farquhar, NVA Organisation
62 Kelvingrove St, Glasgow G3 7SA Scotland
fax 00 44 141 331 1433
Angus Farquhar