RPM’s Remixed was a telematic, transdisciplinary performance based on remixing Alvin Lucier’s RPM’s score – integrating dance, video and sound improvisation. It was simultaneously performed in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa and Houston. RPM’s Remixed was also invited to perform as part of the ISEA 2006 Festival and ZeroOne San Jose: A Global Festival of Art on the Edge.
Alvin Lucier, a well-known composer of music and sound installations that explore natural phenomena and resonance, is renowned for making spaces “sing.” This piece explored the possibilities of using one of his scores to make a virtual space “sing” by using improvisational techniques as well as the natural feedback and delay created by streaming.
Themes exploring isolation, intersection, and madness reverberated through images, body and sound. Dancers and sound artists in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa and Houston collaborated while realtime processing of the video images was driven partially by the performers’ movements. Motion analysis was sent over the network to trigger aspects of video manipulation, further blurring the lines of authorship and contributing to the impromptu chemistry.
Lucier’s original RPM’s score was a tongue-in-cheek take on creating sound based on depressing and releasing the accelerator of an Aston Martin engine. The score itself is a series of nonsensical curvatures and dashes – nonsensical, that is, until a personal interpretation of each written gesture is applied.
Lucier’s original RPM’s score:
RPM’s Remixed score:
Taking this a step further, the cast of RPM’s Remixed deconstructed the score, into dance gestures, violin strokes, guitar riffs, and sound and video mashing. The challenge was not only to collaborate within one’s own medium but to improvise successfully between mediums and within a virtual space. Can the magic of improvisation reach across the ether?
Photos:
RPM’s Remixed at ZeroOne | ISEA 2006: http://flic.kr/s/aHsiDs5dZj
RPM’s Remixed rehearsal 4 august 2006: http://flic.kr/s/aHsiDsyqwL
RPM’s Remixed rehearsal 27 july 2006: http://flic.kr/s/aHsiDfGrye
Rehearsal notes: http://bit.ly/rpmsreh
Locations:
Premiere (2005): online from New York, Los Angeles, Tampa and Houston.
ISEA 2006 Festival/ZeroOne: Parkside Hall, San Jose, CA and online from Tampa, FL and New York, NY.
Dates:
Premiere (2005): 6 august 2005, saturday, 6:00-6:30pm EST / 3:00-3:30pm PST
ISEA 2006 Festival/ZeroOne: 10 august 2006, thursday, 10:00-11:00pm EST / 7:00-8:00pm PST
Collaborators:
New York , NY
Vedat Emre Balik: sound artist
Josephine Dorado: concept/direction/video processing*
with interactive programming by Ben Robison, Andrew Papadeas
Los Angeles , CA
Laura Escude: sound artist*
Tampa, FL
Rachel Bishop: dancer
Houston, TX
Elizabeth Haselwood: dancer*
* For the performance at ISEA, a modified version was produced, in which some of the artists (notated by an asterisk) performed in the physical space in San Jose, CA.
** The original performance, which premiered in 2005, was simultaneously performed in New York, Los Angeles, Tampa and Houston.
