Fluidata – 2 years in the making
James Cunningham performing slow walks in Freshwater Creek in Cairns (upper part) and in Cloncurry River Anabranch
Fluidata is a project, James Cunningham and I developed over 2 years.
First stage was travelling around Queensland, 7500 kilometres, meeting people, giving workshops, and gathering media, data and stories.
Second stage was researching and making/developing an installation.
Third stage was working in residence at The Block, Queensland University of Technology Creative Industries Precincts in order to present an explorative installation, combined with performances onsite and online with a small team.
‘Streamed river walk’, an online performative presentation
James Cunningham and I presented “Streamed river walk, recounting an embodied environmental networked performance practice”, an ONLINE PERFORMATIVE PRESENTATION at the Networked Bodies Symposium in London, at Watermans, on the 9th November 12.30am (Brisbane time).
We enacted slow walking performance on the bank of Brisbane River, recounting our creek walks around Queensland and the Waterwheel network.
We’ve also presented in March 2015 the FLUIDATA project in progress at the international conference Balance/UnBalance in Arizona State University this year.
Below a screen capture of our presentation, with a map of our itinerary around Queensland to collect data.
6 December deadline for Proposals for 3WDS14 – Waterwheel World Water Day Symposium 2014
MAIN CALL
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSION: 6 December 2013
Download info & guidelines | Descargar información y directrices | Téléchargez infos & directives
VOICE FOR THE FUTURE
Youth Participation in the Symposium – up to age 18 – No entry fee
DEADLINE: 31 December 2013
Download info & guidelines | Descargar información y directrices | Téléchargez infos & directives
R&D presented at ISEA2013
Waterwheel Patch Presentation at ISEA 2013 in Sydney by Suzon Fuks, James Cunningham and Ian Winters.
This video document relates our current research using mobile devices as a way of integrating remote physical movement and sound into the online structure of Waterwheel’s Tap allowing participation away from keyboard/mouse based computers. Taking a cue from research using sensors in dance, we are using phones carried by/attached to remote participants collecting sensor information on their movements and audio as content, feedback and control source for the Tap while they are exploring tracks and soundscapes of their local waterway/body of water in Australia, Indonesia, Europe, and USA: Brisa Mp – volunteer in Sydney, Russell Milledge & Rebecca Youdell – Bonemap in Cairns (Australia), Evelyn Ficarra & Kate Genevieve in Brighton (UK), and Mary Armentrout & Marcia Scott in San Francisco (USA).
Waterwheel co-founders Inkahoots are working to implement practical research results.
R&D – mobile phones sensors sending data – first time on the Tap!
Ian has continue the research on Isadora. Have a look at this performance beginning of May!
Yesterday we had a first – very first – trial on the Tap itself.
Yellow=James Cunningham – Brisbane, Australia
Green= Ian Winters – San Francisco, USA
Blue=Adhari Donora – Riau, Sumatra, Indonesia
Red= Suzon Fuks – Brisbane, Australia
Isadora Workshops 4-6 June 2013 in Brisbane
As we are continuing a R&D with Ian Winters – see previous post,
he will be visiting from San Francisco to present our research at ISEA 2013
and give Isadora workshops.
#1. Isadora Intensive
Tuesday 4 June – Thursday 6 June, 9am-1pm, $150/$120 – Ausdance Qld regional artist special offer, avail. on enquiry
a 3-morning workshop intensive in using Isadora & digital media (video, sound, light) for performance and installation.
#2. Introduction to Isadora
Tuesday June 4, 6-8.30pm, $50/$40
a 2.5hr evening basic introduction to Isadora software.
To reserve a place in either workshop, payment in full must be received by Monday May 27.
Booking enquiries: Ann McLean-Ausdance Qld 3852 3655 & James Cunningham 0407 437 351
Bookings link: http://www.trybooking.com/50274
Venue: SYC Studios, 37 Manilla St, East Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 4169
#1 – ISADORA INTENSIVE – Tuesday 4 June – Thursday 6 June, 9am-1pm, $150/$120
– Ausdance bursary for regional artists.
for artists, performers, choreographers, designers, directors & musicians interested in integrating live/recorded video, light, sound, and motion/sensor driven interaction into their work. Focused on the hands-on use of Isadora as a tool for integrating a wide array of digital media, visuals, sound, and data for live performance, installation and sound-based projects, participants will learn the essential basics of working with video, still imagery, live & recorded sound, & simple interactive controls such as motion, sensor, & sound triggering of events. Given time / interest we may also look at use of the kinect and cell phones as controllers.
Compositional ideas behind the workshop: While we’ll be focused on technical aspects of working with Isadora, a few questions / thoughts from longer compositional workshops always inflect my teaching: How long is now? What does it mean to listen to a site? What happens when the now of performance is extended through image, sound, light, and repetition/amplification/
Participant background: No specific knowledge of Isadora, video or programming is required. However a working background or practice in performance, visual/media art or sound as well as good basic computer skills is assumed.
Equipment Provided: All students will receive a short-term workshop license of Isadora (courtesy of TroikaTronix). 2 shared projectors, various sensors and a live camera will be available for shared use.
Equipment Required : laptop capable of running Isadora.
Suggested: video camera, and any midi controllers, sensors, microphones, projectors, lights etc. you want to play with.
NOTE: It’s strongly encouraged to review TroikaTronix’s youtube tutorials and work with the demo prior to the workshop.
#2 – INTRODUCTION TO ISADORA – Tuesday June 4, 6-8.30pm, $50/$40
covers the essential basics of working with this very popular and powerful software tool developed by Mark Coniglio as a tool to integrate media, sound and interactivity into live physical performance. This workshop is targeted at artists, dancers, choreographers, directors etc. with no prior knowledge of video or live/interactive design software but with a desire to the basics of how to practically use this tool in your work. Time-limited workshop licenses of Isadora will be provided.
ABOUT ISADORA: Created by composer and media-artist, Mark Coniglio, Isadora was initially developed to realize the performances of Troika Ranch, the pioneering media intensive dance company he co-founded. Isadora reflects over 20 years of practical experience with real-time live performance and media interactivity. A robust set of tools inspire the advanced designer to realize cutting-edge ideas. Notable features include the ability to composite numerous layers of video, a host of video effects possibilities, the ability to output to as many as six separate video projectors, and a powerful offering of input and output protocols. The latter (which includes OSC, MIDI, Serial, TCP/IP, and HID/game controller devices) are essential for works that require real-time sensory input or when you need to control an external device.
For more information see the Troikatronix site
ABOUT IAN WINTERS, he is a Bay Area based video/media artist, photographer and occasional performer working at the intersections of performance, architectural form, and time-based media. In addition to individual work he often collaborates with composers, directors, and choreographers to create both staged and open-ended media environments through performance, visual and acoustic media. Winters trained in photography, video/film and performance at SMFA-Boston and Tufts University, and post-graduate training in architecture and live performance.
In addition he teaches workshops in interactive video / sound, and has been a visiting artist / conference presenter in media & performance at many institutions including USF, SF State, MIT, Mass Art, LSU, Amherst, Duke, Sussex & Brunel. Recent awards include being a 2013 ISEA-Sydney presenter (as part of the Waterwheel project), a 2012 Leonardo LAZER presenter, the 2012 LAD prize for video design, 2012-3 Isadora Duncan Award nominations for best visual design, 2013 residencies at Djerassi & Earthdance, and a 2013-2015 NEXMAP collective artist.
Recent collaborators and media projects include projects with Francis Ford Coppola (designing the custom Isadora playback system for his recent film, TWIXT), Robert Moses Kin, ODC Dance, Alice Arts, Pamela Z, Evelyn Ficarra, paige starling sorvillo,/blindsight, Sara Kraft, Mary Armentrout Dance Theater, and others. Recent work screenings, performances and video / media design projects include venues such as London City University, the Port of Oakland, The Luggage Store, Sergei Kuryokhin Modern Art Center, Moscow Conservatory Electro-acoustic Center, I-Park Artist’s Enclave, Journées de l’électroacoustique, Paris, YBCA, ODC, Z-Space/Theater Artaud, The Asian Art Museum SF, The Kitchen, POTO Arts Festival, EMPAC, MIT New Media Center, Mass art, London Cutting Edge Festival, Oxford & Corsham music festivals, Moving Baltic Sea Festival and OPEN Cinema Festival in St. Petersburg, CounterPULSE, CNMAT, Highways, The Parkway Theaters, Hertz Hall at UC Berkeley, LA Freewaves festival, 21 Grand, Dance Mission and more. Ian’s website
Excerpts of works made on Waterwheel
WATERWHEEL INSTALLATION PERFORMANCE – December 2011 – work-in-progress showing with an on site audience
SHADOWS XXX – game-performance for SOLSTICE, June 2012
FACE THE FACTS – performance for Waterwheel First Birthday, August 2012
Waterwheel documentation – residency #1 at the Judith Wright Centre
photos by Laura Steiner – performer-deviser Anna Yen – rehearsals and last showing of the work in progress developed during a residency at the Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Art in Brisbane, 22 October 2011
INVITATION to an installation performance in construction!
You are invited to be part of this adventure – work in progress showings – It is about water: how much do you care about it? how will you share it? We are constructing an installation performance using Waterwheel
WHERE: – online on http://water-wheel.net/taps/dock/110
– on site in Brisbane at the Judith Wright Centre – shopfront (residency)
WHEN: – Thursday 20 & Friday 21 October at 5pm (Brisbane, Australia) – find your time here
– Saturday 22 Oct at 4pm (Brisbane, Australia) – find your time here
we suggest you come at least 15 minutes before, you open your browser, and click or copy & paste this link: http://water-wheel.net/taps/dock/110 – In the right upper corner, there will be a white rectangle – click on ENTER
Brisbane crew: Suzon Fuks (project initiator), Anna Yen (performer), Rozina Suliman (set designer), Nathen Street (interactive system designer), James Cunningham (external eye & go between), Felicity Organ-Moore (light & production), Laura Steiner (AV assistant/documenter), Doug Leonard (dramaturg), and Will Davies (IT)
Online crew: Maartje Belmer (NL) (choreography, project assistant), Kaz L Gibbs (AUS), Hedva Eltanani (UK), Katarina DJ Uroševi? (Serbia), Amin Hammami (Tunisia) (soundscape)
There will be feedback session after each showing. Looking forward to meeting you on the TAP!
LAB on the TAP – 12-22 July
DESCRIPTION
Networked/telematic/telepresence performance/presentation & real time media mixing laboratory exploring & testing the online venue TAP,
– as well as the tools: webcams (which can move, rotate, resize, flip in real time), but also mix & use media palettes, realtime drawing tool & type chat, we will use our own bodies
– explorations: scores/parameters/mini-scripts on the theme of water, interaction between webcams & body movements/voice & media, mixing & layering media (also with webcams), interaction text/voice/sound/chat, interaction online/onsite spaces with or without projections Documentation of previous laboratories on the blog
AIMS
– exploring & testing TAP – as a new platform in development: what works, what doesn’t, what can be improved, wish list
– make your own performances/presentations on the TAP
– meeting future possible collaborators
– possible participation in various events (launch on 22 August, installation performance Oct & Dec, water science symposium, etc…to be discussed at the lab)
PARTICIPANTS PROFILE: Open-minded, interested in collaboration across disciplines (in arts, sciences, activism, environmentalism, education), curious to experiment and share skills
PRE-REQUISITE: There is no particular computer skill necessary for the workshop, however it could be useful to have some knowledge of these applications: photoshop, flash, video & sound editing.
PRACTICALLY : Bring your computer, in-built or/and external webcam, headset, media related to water (stills, videos, flash animations, sound & music files, text, spreadsheets). Be ready to move in comfortable clothes. NO FEE AS IT IS BASED ON EXPLORATIVE PERSONAL INTEREST OF EACH PARTICIPANT.
SCHEDULE & REGISTRATION – please select your sessions on doodle
– 12-15July online 1 session a day, onsite in residence at iMAL from 13-21h
– 18-22July only online 2 sessions a day to chose from – you need to take part in 3 sessions min (2hours per session). Please send an email to suzon
ABOUT SUZON: Suzon Fuks is a media artist, choreographer and director exploring the integration and interaction of dance & moving image through performance, screen, installation & online work. She is currently an Australia Council for the Arts Fellowship recipient.
This project is initiated by Suzon Fuks as part of a Fellowship assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body; in collaboration with IGNEOUS and INKAHOOTS, supported by the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland, Brisbane City Council, the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts, Ausdance Queensland & Youth Arts Queensland. Creative Sparks is a joint initiative of Brisbane City Council and the Queensland Government through Arts Queensland. Artists collaborating so far on the project are from NZ, Australia, Indonesia, India, Serbia, Germany, France, Holland, UK, Canada & USA
Waterwheel Documentation – 1st lab/residency @Bell Tower
photos by Laura Steiner – 4th and last showing of the residency
WATERWHEEL – first lab/residency about to begin!
Since the announcement of the project, responses show a real interest for the topic, the metaphor & the platform. Exciting! Propositions from curators, research, involvement of university students, info forwarded to scientists,etc. We had a bit of delay in the platform development, as I came back end of the year with swine flu, and Inkahoots studio was out of service for 2 weeks because of the floods. So we will work with a very basic version of the platform, which is maybe more open at this stage for your feedback & advice on its functionalities.
We started a conversation between lab & online participants (below full list of participants), as well as interested people, on a: Facebook group and a Blog.
The FOUNTAIN first public events (with audience online & on site in Brisbane, at the Bell Tower, level 3, Judith Wright Centre) will happen on:
– March 3 & 4 @6-8pm (Qld time – find your time)
– March 5 @11.30am-1.30pm (Qld time – find your time) & 5-7pm (Qld time – find your time) ! we will post links & more info closer to the dates !
CORE TEAM: Suzon Fuks artistic director, project coordinator | Sofia Woods performer/choreographer | James Cunningham external eye & IGNEOUS representative | Felicity Organ-Moore stage/production manager | Will Davy IT & sound technician | INKAHOOTS: Mat Johnson developer, Jason Grant designer, INKAHOOTS artistic director, Bretton – designer | Brisbane LAB PARTICIPANTS: Rozina Suliman | Emma Che Martin | Nathen Street | Kimberley Bianca Warren | Kaz Gibbs | Richelle Spence | Silke Tanzt | Emmy Steiner | ONLINE PARTICIPANTS: Shannon Parsons (Toowoomba, QLD, Australia) | Elizabeth Bryce (NZ) | Vicki Smith (NZ) | Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann (NZ) | Vincent Probo (Yogyakarta, Indonesia) | Nagasamy Ramachandra (Chennai, India) | Sajani Ganapathy Murugan (Chennai, India) | Beatrice de Fays (Paris, France) | Marloeke van der Vlugt (Amsterdam, the Netherlands) | Katarina Djordevic Urosevic (Belgrade, Serbia) | Cherry Truluk (London, UK) | Hedva Eltanani (London, UK) | Ben Unterman (Vancouver, Canada) | ONLINE DOCUMENTER & CONTRIBUTOR: Francesco Buonaiuto (Naples, Italy)
This project is initiated by Suzon Fuks, an Australia Council for the Arts Fellow, in collaboration with IGNEOUS & INKAHOOTS, and assisted by Arts Queensland, Ausdance Queensland, Youth Arts Queensland, & the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts (Brisbane).
WATERWHEEL – a unique workshop opportunity
A unique workshop opportunity to participate in the first phase of the WATERWHEEL project.
The workshop will develop a networked/telematic installation performance on the theme of WATER, initiated by Suzon Fuks, Australia Council Fellow. She will facilitate emerging and interested intermedia artists, composers, video makers, visual artists, dancers, performers, or choreographers (maximum 5 participants in Brisbane) to engage, collaborate and forge creative partnerships, developing and testing a brand new internet platform specifically made for performance and mixed media, and creating a new installation performance with participatory audience. At least 2 showings onsite & online will conclude the workshop.
WHEN: Feb 21 to March 6 (for Brisbane participants Mo-Fri 4-7pm &/or Sat 10.30am-5pm)
WHERE: Ausdance Bell Tower, YAQ & on internet
WHAT: creative process will include brainstorming, improvs, gathering of media, inter-skill sharing sessions, at least 2 onsite & online events & feedback with leaders in the fields.
HOW: #1- write an email by 1st February with full contact details & expressing your interest in the WATERWHEEL project -#2- in a phone or skype conversation, you will be asked: what is your clear commitment to the creative process, your availability, which other relevant experience you have -#3- you will be advised by email by February 4.
MORE INFO: email or call Suzon Fuks on 0404 292 119
ABOUT THE WATERWHEEL PROJECT
Following a year of preparation, 2011: The Waterwheel starts turning! Welcome! Be a part of this new online collaborative space without borders: from teachers to students, performers to scientists, producers, programmers, curators, visual artists, composers, activists and everyone in between. All ages welcome!
The upcoming Waterwheel project revolves around WATER as a topic and a metaphor – what people want to share, say, or debate about this fundamental element. It includes:
The Waterwheel – an interactive website
The Tap – an online performance & collaborative venue
Fountains – outcomes that well up from the project
The Waterwheel interactive website will give you the power to collaborate, explore ideas, research and gather feedback by uploading and sharing media about water: images, video, music, text or sound.
The Tap online performance & collaborative venue will be accessible by audience and performers with just a click, no download needed, and will be free. ‘Live’ performers from various locations will interact with audiences in real time using webcams, media from The Waterwheel and drawing tools. Audience can participate online through a chat facility or directly with the ‘live’ performers on site. From February, basic versions of The Waterwheel and The Tap will be available, you can be involved and follow the developments by uploading your media, exploring the online venue, and giving your feedback.
Fountains will be outcomes that anyone is free to initiate and will be triggered by interactions on The Waterwheel. A Fountain could be a book, a performance, an exhibition, a community project, a multi-generational exchange, a concert or an installation festival – let your imagination steer the way. These Fountains will be mapped out on the website, so you can see what The Waterwheel is powering. Throughout 2011, workshop residencies will develop one Fountain which is an installation performance, testing the website and the online venue. The first residency, which runs 14 Feb – 6 March, is based in Brisbane and open for your participation online or on site. Please let us know if you are interested.
Turn the wheel your way and pass on this message to your pool of people! Welcome to translate it into your language. For more information about any part of the project and how to contribute/participate, please email.
This project is initiated by Suzon Fuks, an Australia Council for the Arts Fellow, in collaboration with IGNEOUS & INKAHOOTS, and assisted by Arts Queensland, Ausdance Queensland, Youth Arts Queensland, & the Judith Wright Centre for Contemporary Arts (Brisbane).trials on Selfworld
Since March, am doing some trials on Selfworld with ActiveLayers (with Cherry in London and Liz in Kawerau (NZ) and James and I in Brisbane). Ivan Chabanaud comes sometimes to our meetings to tweak the server and our room, and in some pix, played Gulliver demonstrating how to use the encoder as a moving backdrop….
We are working on theme of water…made few movies, gather some images and songs, and try to find scores that we can do online.
The use of multi-video streams is powerful, opening up a lot of possibilities but it needs a lot of tweaking and patience, above all for the sound. But somehow being able to see each other is a big reward which gives us all the patience needed!
It gives definitely another space to ‘perform’, a space of intimacy, closeness, macro details, computer’s immediate surrounding, but also outdoors, public spaces, landscapes…
In Yogyakarta (Indonesia), we bought a 3G stick, and continued our trials from here, just beside a paddy field.
James went to internet cafes/parlours to have a separate connection. He could not put his own laptop on the network, and had to use the local computer/webcam….which once was pretty fuzzy (because of fungi growing with humidity)… but other time, were quite interesting cause not in-built in the computer, giving freedom to film around and have various angles.
Because we didn’t have access to printers, we start using other devices with mini-screens to show images (iphone & digital camera), sketches, little objects, using also paper that we were tearing on the spot to shapes… great immediacy, interesting aesthetic, fine movements of hands… to be continued!
Backyard Dances & Electrosmog Festival
James and I participated in BACKYARD DANCES, an on-line community dance which tempted to bring the ordinary and the local to the global stage through a collection of backyard video streams performed by Becca Wood and dancers in Berlin, Brisbane, Oklahoma, Taipa, Auckland City and Auckland Waterview. These locations were linked by the same sound score made of a mash up of backyard videos sent by contributors responding to a call for participation.
Backyard Dances was made for the Electrosmog Festival performance/events program.
ElectroSmog is a new festival that revolves around the concept Sustainable Immobility. The festival introduced and explored this concept in theory and practice. With Sustainable Immobility they refer to a critique of current systems of hyper mobility of people and products in travel and transport, and their ecological unsustainability.
Part 2, Presentation Dec 09
After 3 months of my fellowship, I presented to peers what I have done and what I am preparing : the first part of the presentation was about ‘Screendance’, second part about ‘Networked Performance’. I delivered the presentation twice:
– at Igneous studio with 18 people, on December 6, 2009 – download transcript
– online with 12 people from 3 different time zones(!), on December 13, 2009, on UpStage and using audio on USTREAM. Download the log.
Below is the video of the 2nd part of the online presentation about ‘Networked Performance’. For the 1st part of the online presentation about ‘Screendance’, see this post (screendance category).
The sessions were followed by a critical response process facilitated by James Cunningham.
KEDJA Oslo + TELE-PLATEAUS
In October 09, KEDJA Oslo encounter was focusing on Dance and New Media.
Kedja from Creation Editor on Vimeo.
TELE-PLATEAUS event this morning 6 Dec 09, at 5am (Oz time) in the context of Cynetart Festival in Dresden. Aim of Tele-Plateaus: to establish a permanent network allowing for direct audiovisual real-time interactions between similarly configured public sites and performance stages across Europe. Tele-Plateaus is composed, controlled and structured by movements of people from different cities. Within these networked stages and sites people from Dresden, Madrid, Norrköping, and Prague (among the first connected cities) can dance and play together. They can simultaneously create pictures, sounds, and light effects by means of their own movements without operating any additional interfaces. The shared virtual hyper-site is based on the generation of data that is available for processing to all computers within a common network. Movement parameters (speed, spatial position, etc.) are captured and digitalised by camera-based motion system and exchanged between computers at distant locations with a technically similar configuration.
DANCETECH was producing the streaming of the event and diffusing interviews about the processes experienced by artists participating at the preparation of the event. (I found some interviews posted afterwards here)
