Thursday, September 18, 2014

AOM at the Network Music Festival, Birmingham, UK September 28, 2014


Avatar Orchestra at Network Music Festival

Sunday, September 28, 2014, Birmingham, UK



Works by Björn Eriksson, Tina M Pearson and Norman Lowrey

Ten composers, artists and musicians spread through Europe and North America meet in a networked virtual world. There, together as avatars, they design and play new otherworldly virtual instruments while experimenting with identity, perception, telepathy and collectivity. The instruments determine movement, audio emissions, and the release of particles and textures that give visual indications of sounds made independently by individual players in real time. There is no streaming involved – the performance is created completely within the networked 3-D environment world Second Life.

Bjorn Eriksson's Fragula moves from granulated sine waves, square waves and sawtooth-shaped sounds through arpeggiated synthetic figures into samples of an old harmonium with imprecise playing. Each sound control triggers a specific small or big movement and animation of the avatar, while exploding each avatar’s sound sack into colour.

PwRHm: Breathing the Network Electric by Tina M Pearson uses two sets of sine tones tuned to the harmonic series of the AC currents of North America and Europe. Separated by continents, AC frequencies and instrument sets, the two groups of performers play according to their individual breath rhythms while exploring sonic phenomena effects and the pure just intoned sonic relationships that occur when they meet within the 3-D virtual world. A separate set of instruments built on the processed field recordings of electric motors from each continent gives added possibilities.

In Whirled (Trance) Formations by Norman Lowrey invites performers to transform themselves through Singing Masks as "vehicles of transformation." The result is a spontaneously playful shaping of sound, light, and motion, using virtual mask instruments to connect with alternate realities, modes of cognition, or underlying fabrics of energies.

PERFORMERS

BlaiseDeLaFrance Voom (Biagio Francia), Agropoli, Italy 
Frieda Korda (Frieda Kuterna), Antwerp, Belgium)
Groucho Parx (Brenda Hutchinson), San Francisco, USA
Gumnosophistai Nurmi (Leif Inge), Oslo, Norway
Humming Pera (Tina M Pearson), Victoria, Canada
Maxxo Klaar (Max D. Well), Regensburg, Germany
Miulew Takahe (Björn Eriksson), Sollefteå, Sweden
North Zipper (Norman Lowrey), New Jersey, USA
Paco Mariani (Chris Wittkowsky), Regensburg, Germany
Zonzo Spyker (Viv Corringham) (New York, USA)

Virtual set by Frieda Kuterna, Liz Solo, Tina Pearson and Norman Lowrey
Virtual Instruments built by Andreas Mueller and Norman Lowrey
Animations by Andreas Mueller, Tim Risher and Norman Lowrey
Performed at Odyssey Art and Performance Simulator in Second Life

Scenes from the Vector Game and Art Convergence Festival



February 23, 2014 

Avatar Orchestra performance 

at Interaccess Video Centre in Toronto, Canada.


Bringing the virtual world to the Interaccess performance space.
Kimberly Koronya, Tina Pearson, Diana Paulsen (camera)
corner set up with 2 screens - 1 showing HUDS and interface

Helicopter / Avatar Duo


Skot Deeming, setting up the video stream into Second Life.



"Fragula", in front of rotating skyscrapers set














Wednesday, February 12, 2014

AOM at Vector Game Art Festival




The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse has been invited to present a live performance at the Vector Game Art Festival in Toronto, Canada on February 23, 2014.


In preparation for this event, the AOM collective's globally networked mind has pulled together ideas from its almost seven years' of working together to create a story that links its soundart and music origins with the virtual possibilities of networked performance art, theatre, games, and breath-guided telematics. 





"For this special performance, debuting at Vector 2014, the AOM’s Humming Pera (aka Tina Pearson) will be conducting the performance live at Interaccess, with seven other members of the Orchestra dialling  in from around the world to perform with virtual helicopters and custom designed audiovisual instruments inside a whimsical virtual environment. This special performance will feature new collaborations created by the Orchestra specifically for the Vector Game Art Festival, and will include a live video stream of the audience on screen within the virtual environment, inviting interaction and awareness between the telematic performers and their spectators.

Team Vector is very excited for this unique performance, which pushes the boundaries of online interaction, the utility of MMOs and our aural perceptions of virtual environments."

Live Performers 

Frieda Korda, aka Frieda Kuterna (Antwerp, Belgium)
Groucho Parx, aka Brenda Hutchinson (Brooklyn & San Francisco, USA)
Gumnosophistai Nurmi, aka Leif Inge (Oslo, Norway)
Humming Pera, aka Tina M. Pearson (Victoria, BC, Canada)
Lizsolo Mathilde, aka Liz Solo (St. John's, Nfld., Canada)
Maxxo Klaar, aka Max D. Well (Regensburg, Germany) 
Miulew Takahe, aka Björn Eriksson (Sollefteå, Sweden)
Paco Mariani, aka Chris Wittkowsky (Regensburg, Germany)

Compositional elements and/or custom instruments by

Miulew Takahe, aka Björn Eriksson (Sollefteå, Sweden) Composition
Humming Pera, aka Tina M. Pearson (Victoria, BC, Canada) Composition, Instruments
Bingo Onomatopoeia, aka Andreas Müller (Regensburg, Germany) Composition, Instruments
North Zipper, aka Norman Lowrey (New Jersey, USA) Composition, Instruments
Gumnosophistai Nurmi, aka Leif Inge (Oslo, Norway) Composition
Frieda Korda, aka Frieda Kuterna (Netherlands) Instruments
Wirxli FlimFalm (late), aka Jeremy Owen Turner (Vancouver, BC, Canada) Composition

Storyline 

Maxxo Klaar, aka Max D. Well (Regensburg, Germany) 
Frieda Korda, aka Frieda Kuterna (Netherlands)
Gumnosophistai Nurmi, aka Leif Inge (Oslo, Norway)
Humming Pera, aka Tina M. Pearson (Victoria, BC, Canada)


The Avatar Orchestra gratefully acknowledges the support of its appearance at the Vektor Game Art Festival through a Canada Council  for the Arts/ le Conceil des arts du Canada travel grant to AOM member Tina Pearson, who will act as the human-avatar interface at the festival. 


xoxo