DEMOS - LIVE PERFORMANCE - SHOW AND TELL - + MORE

Fair Game features artists who use video game engines to create work that spans the landscape of cinema, video gaming, hacker art, immersive installation and software development. Unlike the usual panel discussion format - the night will include demos, show and tell presentations, film screenings, and of course, game playing. Watch the video games being played on MASSIVE screens, and then see how artists manipulate the software engines to create their own work entirely by using the tools of these virtual worlds.

THE PERFORMANCE

Kurt Hentschläger — will present his new audio-visual instrument and give a short live demonstration, with reference to his performance FEED, which premiered this September at the Theater Biennial in Venice. Friedrich Kirschner — will present ways in which the Unreal Tournament 2004 game engine has been modified to use it as a tool for animated movie productions, realtime audio-visual performances and other art related projects. Kirschner will give a brief overview of the tools generated through modifications made within the game's scripting environment as well as present some of the results of this work. Paul Marino (Executive Director, Academy of Machinima Arts ) — With the expanding accessibility and proliferation of computer game/virtual world technologies, an increasing amount of users have been using these interactive platforms as the basis for creative expression. Thus a young medium, known as Machinima, is breeding a new generation of digital filmmakers - creators who are crafting narratives that merge legacy cinema with newer production methods. The lecture will look at several examples of Machinima, showing its steady growth and how it is democratizing animated filmmaking. The ILL Clan — will be doing a live interactive machinima performance of their new show, Trash Talk with ILL Will. For a preview of the show, visit http://trashtalk.illclan.com or http://www.illclan.com/movies.htm for previous shorts by the ILL Clan. Workspace Unlimited — The Workspace Unlimited collective will present the Virtual World of Art project, a series of networked virtual worlds connected to physical public spaces. The collective will demonstrate a live walkthrough of its projects, comment the concepts and art works relating to game technology, social networks and hybrid space. The Fair Game event modules will be preceded by expert gamers from Rensselaer's Games Research Lab playing the games that the presenting artists are using to make their work (Unreal Tournament and Quake 3) on oversized screens for the audience.

DANCE MOViES An ongoing series of international dance films and experimental videos made by contemporary dancers- not MTV, not Swan Lake, not Fred Astaire - but physical power and tender movements, roaming, dancing and acting out in the most unlikely places... DANCE MOViES 2 presents short films made by dancers and directors who investigate the ongoing search for love and logic in human affairs, often with a strong eye for the absurd. a bar a peepshow booth a bathtub ...Intimate, moving, funny, shocking. Be curious.

DANCE MOViES 2 program:

Peep Show, 2002 (Canada). 4 min. Left or Right for Love?, 2003 (UK). 6 min. RIP (Rest in Peace), 2000 (Netherlands). 9 min. Portrait, 2003 (Finland). 5 min. Measure, 2001 (USA). 7 min. The Cost of Living, 2004 (UK). 34 min. Total running time: 67 minutes

Peep Show

2002, 4', (Canada) Written and directed by Robert Deleskie Choreographed and performed by David Danzon and Sylvie Bouchard Featuring the actors Joe Gladman and Katherine Bignall Produced with the support of Bravo!FACT (Foundation to Assist Canadian Talent) In this comical and absurdist take on a penny-arcade peep show, a disgruntled couple pays to watch a bizarre courtship dance between a man and woman clad in sticky, black, rubber body-suits. To the fascination of the watching pair, what begins as tentative touches evolves into a cheeky game of slaps, as the performers get more intimate...

Left or Right for Love?

2002, 6', (UK) Directed by Magali Charrier Choreographed by Maria Lloyd Music by Lizzy Carey Performed by Maria Lloyd and Gerard Bell Produced by Magali Charrier and South East Dance UK A woman sinks into her bath of milk to emerge in a white world of fantasy, memory and chaotic thoughts. A box falls from the sky, opening to reveal a man, calm and good-humored, who watches her fly. When she comes back to reality somehow everything has changed.

RIP (Rest in Peace)

2000, 9', (Netherlands) Written and directed by Annick Vroom Music by Rob Hauser Performed by Andrea Boll, Andreas Denk, Mischa van Dullemen, Klaus Jürgens Three adult siblings attend their parents' funeral and reconvene after the wake, in an empty and silent house. As the grief and shock ebb into the background, their current relationships draw into focus. Things begin to go awry. Hidden facets underlying their parents' staid appearance emerge and the house becomes inappropriately filled with music and mischief.

Portrait

2003, 5', (Finland) Directed and choreographed by Saara Cantell Performed by Turo Mustakallio and Mirja Tukiainen Part of the Nordic project "Moving North - ten short dance films". A tragicomedy about a middle-aged couple who enter a photographer's studio for a portrait. He leaves them for a moment, and suddenly they have embarked on a journey of fighting and intimacy, escaping through the backdrops. As they play their time-honored games of power and affection, they expose the hidden realities of their relationship.

Measure

2001, 7', (USA) Directed by Dayna Hanson and Gaelen Hanson Choreographed by Dayna Hanson Performed by Dayna Hanson and John Dixon Produced by Agate Films A duet takes place exclusively within the decaying walls of a constricted, 4-foot-wide corridor. As light spills into the corridor from the doorways of unseen rooms, a relationship emerges between the two performers, revealed as much through their faces as through the expressive timing of their rhythmically intricate steps.

The Cost of Living

2004, 34', (UK) Conceived and directed by Lloyd Newson of DV8 Physical Theater Original music by Nick Hooper, Paul Charlier, Jonathan Cooper Performed by Jose Maria Alves, Gabriel Castillo, Robin Dingemans, Tom Hodgson, Eddie Kay, Tanja Liedtke, Eddie Nixon, Kareena Oates, Rowan Thorpe, David Toole, Vivien Wood Loosely adapted from the 2003 stage production Commissioned Channel 4 Television UK Shot in a faded seaside town on the Norfolk coast, two disillusioned street performers roam the streets, boardwalks and bars in search of more to life. Along the way, encounters lead to scuffles, romance, joy rides, outrageous claims and solid comraderie. Confronting issues of personal freedom, prejudice and fulfillment, this film seamlessly merges theater, film and dance. Winner of nine international film awards, including a Rose D'Or from Lucerne.

Supporting the Creation of New Works in the Americas

The DANCE MOViES Commission supports the creation of new works for the screen which vary widely in content and form but are all created by, or in collaboration with, a choreographer or movement-based artist. The four films premiering here represent the first commissioned projects in this program.

EMPAC first presented films and videos of this kind on the Rensselaer campus through its DANCE MOViES series over the course of 2005-2007. These curated programs were hour-long screenings which introduced the community to a genre that is rarely seen outside of the international dance film festival circuit.

As the only major commissioning program for dance film established in the US, the DANCE MOViES Commission is having a significant national and international impact, making the creation of new works possible, and inspiring artists in the field to form new collaborations. The second round of projects is underway and will premier in the fall of 2009.

DANCE MOViES An ongoing series of international dance films and experimental videos made by contemporary dancers- not MTV, not Swan Lake, not Fred Astaire - but physical power and tender movements, roaming, dancing and acting out in the most unlikely places... Contemporary dancers creating short films and experimental videos - not, MTV, not Swan Lake, not Fred Astaire - but physical power and tender movements, roaming, dancing and acting in the most unlikely places... A city street in Nigeria, a steep mountainside in Switzerland a bedroom in the US an endless field in France a bar, a peepshow booth, a bathtub...Intimate, moving, funny, shocking. Be curious.

DANCE MOViES 1 program:

Wake-up Call, (USA) Choreographed, Directed and Performed by Pooh Kaye Walkabout of Alices, (Italy) Directed and choreographed by Simona da Pozzo Reimerswaal, (Netherlands) Directed by Clara van Gool Boy, (UK) Directed by Peter Anderson, Choreographed by Rosemary Lee Le P'tit Bal, (France) Choreographed and directed by Philippe Decouflé black spring, (Nigeria/France) Choreographed by Heddy Maalem, Directed and Filmed by Benoit Dervaux Reines d'un jour (Queens for a day), (Switzerland) Directed by Pascal Magnin

Wake-up Call

1988, 7', (USA) Choreographed, Directed, and Performed by Pooh Kaye An early gem from acclaimed performance artist and filmmaker Pooh Kaye portrays the hilarious, tumbling journey of one woman in the nether region of her snooze button. Using her signature stop-motion animation, Pooh Kaye falls out of bed and dances through a wacky apartment of morphing wall paintings, watchful shadows and animate furniture.

Walkabout of Alices

2003, 3', (Italy) Directed and choreographed by Simona da Pozzo Music by Antonio Vivaldi Performed by Irene Margherita Marco, Filomena Moscatelli, Claire Reynolds, Claire Ubeda In this kinetic short video, four dancers race in concentric circles, in an asphalt field studded with hay bales, keeping up a furious pace.

Reimerswaal

2004, 8', (Netherlands) Directed by Clara van Gool Choreographed by Suzy Blok Performed by Fifi Arp and Peter van Vuuren Inspired by the poem REIMERSWAAL by Gerrit Achterberg, a young couple engage in a mysterious mating dance in and under water, until the playfulness is lost, and they must swim quickly their separate ways.

Boy

1995, 5', (UK) Choreographed by Rosemary Lee Directed by Peter Anderson Performed by Tom Evans Music by Graeme Miller Filmed on the coast of Norfolk in England, this film explores the joyous, magical world of an eight year old boy who conjures up his imaginary twin. Alive with physical energy, and steeped in animal imagery and shamanism, the film gives us a view into the boy's private domain.

Le P'tit Bal

1994, 4', (France) Choreographed and directed by Philippe Decouflé Performed by Philippe Decouflé, Pascale Houbin, Annie Lacour Music composed by Robert Nyel & Gaby Verlor Music performed by Bourvil In this short film by the renowned French choreographer Philippe Decoufle, a couple sits at a table in a vast, wind-blown field, acting out the lyrics of the whimsical song "C'etait Bien" with precise gestures and a personal sign language. The sudden appearance of household objects falling from the sky, the saturated colors and the increasing use of time-lapse photography, combine to create a heightened sense of sweet absurdity.

black spring

2002, 26', (Nigeria/France) Choreographed by Heddy Maalem Directed and filmed by Benoit Dervaux Created by Nigerian/French choreographer Heddy Maalem and French filmmaker Benoit Dervaux, this startlingly powerful film creates an intimate and fierce portrait of contemporary Africa. Bringing together dancers from Senegal, Nigeria and French dancers of African descent, Maalem creates a series of dances in the silence of the studio, with only the dancers' breathing and footsteps for sound, and intercuts them with clanging scenes filmed in the streets. The raw energy and vitality of the dancers, the harsh realities of everyday life, and the clichés of Western perceptions of sub-Saharan Africa are all brought out in high relief by alternating our view of the dances in a darkened room and glimpses of life outside the studio.

Reines d'un jour (Queens for a day)

1996, 26', (Switzerland) Directed by Pascal Magnin Original concept by Pascal Magnin, Marie Nespolo, Christine Kung Choreography and Performance by Veronique Ferrero, Marie Nespolo, Christine Kung, Mikel Aristegui, Antonio Buil, Roberto Molo In this sensual and joyful film by French filmmaker Pascal Magnin, six dancers tumble down the steep slopes of the Swiss Alps, amongst cows and shepherds, somewhere between heaven and earth, to join in a traditional village festival. The villagers welcome these scruffy newcomers into their festivities, where mischief, pranks and love run rampant. Inspired by a folk tale about three maidens who vanished because they ignored the prohibition against public dancing.

THERE IS STILL TIME..BROTHER is the Wooster Group’s first interactive 360° war film. Sitting inside a panoramic screen, the audience is surrounded by the film’s bewildering narrative space, where the action can only be seen and heard clearly through a virtual peephole that scans the circle, controlled by a member of the audience. The audience becomes immersed in a process of discovery whereby the very choice to look or turn away actually creates the story. This installation—which takes its title from a banner visible in the final scene of Stanley Kramer’s 1959 film, On the Beach, depicting a post-nuclear apocalypse Earth—is a film about war and the ways that individuals respond to war. Seated in a revolving chair in the center of the 360° space, audience members take turns controlling a virtual “window” to highlight discrete aspects of a story about British and French troops battling for control of Fort Calypso (a battle site in the French and Indian War); joining the battle are grotesquely enlarged children’s toys vying for attention with politically minded blog-gers, unsavory YouTube videos, and a mercurial host who attempts to articulate the implications of this unique “narrative space.” With each viewing, a new cinematic experience is spun out of the choices of individual audience members. 

Initiated in 2003 as EMPAC’s first commissioned work, THERE IS STILL TIME..BROTHER took four years of development and production to complete, including technological research and collaboration with international partners in Australia and Germany. It was directed by Elizabeth LeCompte and developed with Jeffrey Shaw for his interactive panoramic cinema.

The Wooster Group is a collective of artists who make new work for the theater. Under the direction of Elizabeth LeCompte and with its associates and staff, the group has created over 40 works for theater, dance, and media. For more than 30 years, the Wooster Group has cultivated new forms and techniques of theatrical expression reflective of and responsive to our evolving culture, while sustaining a consistent ensemble and maintaining a flexible repertory. Elizabeth LeCompte has directed all of the Wooster Group’s productions since the founding of the company in 1976. Jeffrey Shaw has been a leading figure in new media art since its emergence from the performance, expanded cinema, and installation paradigms of the ’60s to its present day technology-informed and virtualized forms.