Dialogue with London's Blast Theory: Media Performance Gaming

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Wayne Ashley" <[email protected]>
> Date: November 21, 2004 1:18:46 PM EST
> Subject: Dialogue with London's Blast Theory: Media Performance Gaming
>
> Blast Theory: Media*Performance*Gaming
>
> An artists talk with Blast Theory director Matt Adams, Steve Benford,
> Professor of Collaborative Computing and lead engineer of the Mixed
> Reality Lab, and respondents Hugh Hardy (H3 Hardy Collaboration
> Architecture), Maria-Christina Villasenor (Associate Curator,
> Guggenheim
> Museum) and Eric Zimmerman (Co-Founder, gameLab). Facilitated by Wayne
> Ashley, Curator of New Media and Public Programs at the Lower Manhattan
> Cultural Council.
>
> Monday, November 22, 2004
> 7:00 PM
> The Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts, Pace University Entrance at 3
> Spruce Street, between Park Row and Gold Streets, but closer to Gold
> just east of City Hall.
>
> London-based Blast Theory is renowned internationally as one of the
> most
> adventurous artists' groups who are working at the intersection of
> performance, media, and computer gaming. Lead by Matt Adams, Ju Row
> Farr and Nick Tandavanitj, the group uses video, computers,
> performance,
> installation, mobile and online technologies to explore interactivity
> and the relationship between real and virtual space, with a particular
> focus on the social and political aspects of technology. Matt Adams,
> Nick Tandavanitj, and Steve Benford will discuss their recent work, a
> multi-player game that fuses the worlds of on-line and off-line
> players,
> and an up-coming project for Lower Manhattan.
>
> Joining Blast Theory will be respondents from leading art,
> architecture,
> and gaming organizations in New York City. These respondents will
> address Blast Theory's work through the lenses of their own disciplines
> and expertise, while simultaneously asking how Blast Theory's work
> could
> theoretically, philosophically, and critically relate to the current
> cultural and economic re-development of Lower Manhattan and New York
> City in general.
>
> Hugh Hardy, founder and principle of H3 Hardy Collaboration
> Architecture, is currently developing the Greenwich Street corridor in
> Lower Manhattan, and has been intimately involved with issues of
> artistic production and the built environment in his past projects in
> Brooklyn and Manhattan.
>
> Eric Zimmerman is a game designer and the co-founder of gameLab
> (www.gamelab.com), a game development company located in Tribeca that
> creates award-winning online games. He is the co-author with Katie
> Salen
> of
> Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals and co-editor with Amy Scholder
> of
> RE:PLAY - Game Design + Game Culture.
>
> Maria-Christina Villasenor is the Associate Curator of Film and Media
> at
> the Guggenheim Museum. Villasenor brings her curatorial and artistic
> perspective, including the ways that museums and cultural organizations
> are changing to accommodate new and adventurous forms of media-based
> art.
>
> This presentation is organized by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council,
> and made possible by Renssalear Polytechnic Institute and Pace
> University.
>
> The artists are joining us to explore the possibilities of creating a
> new work for New York City in 2005. This project is a part of Downtown
> Digital Futures, LMCC's multi-year platform for artists, cultural
> planners, urban developers, and technologists to creatively explore the
> role of art and technology in the transformation of Lower Manhattan and
> other urban centers. Downtown Digital Futures includes public art
> installations, artists' talks, large scale commissions, and a research
> and policy think tank. For more information, please visit
> http://www.lmcc.net/ddf More About Blast Theory:
>
>
> MORE ABOUT BLAST THEORY AND THE MIXED REALITY LAB
> http://www.blasttheory.co.uk
>
> For the past three years, Blast Theory has been exploring the
> convergence of online and mobile technologies in collaboration with the
> Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham, to create groundbreaking
> new forms of performance and interactive art mixing audiences across
> the
> internet, live performance and digital broadcasting. Projects include
> the award-winning Can You See Me Now?, Uncle Roy All Around You and I
> Like Frank in Adelaide - the world's first 3G mixed reality game. The
> group works with partners such as BBC Interactive, The Science Museum
> in
> London and BT. Masterclasses, mentoring, internships, seminars and
> lectures are central to the group's dissemination of its research
> around
> the world.
>
> Following two BAFTA nominations and an Honorary Mention at the
> Transmediale Awards, Blast Theory won the much coveted Prix Ars
> Electronica for Interactive Art in 2003. Internationally, the group has
> been represented at art fairs and festivals including Festival Escena
> Contemporanea, Madrid, the Dutch Electronic Arts Festival, Biennale of
> Sydney, Palestine International Video Festival and Basel Art Fair.
>
>
> ————————————–
> Wayne Ashley
> Curator of New Media & Public Programs
> 120 Broadway
> 31st Floor
> New York, NY 10271
> T 212-219-9401 x106
> F 212-219-2058
>