Discussing SUPER VISION in New York
I have just returned from New York and the BAM performances of The Builders Association and dbox's SUPER VISION.
The BAM Harvey Theatre is an extraordinary performance space.
Saved from dereliction, the interior fabric of the building has been preserved in a revelation of the interior structures, materials and surfaces that frame a state-of-the-art 900-seat theatre.
To this The Builders Association and dbox have brought a precise and spectacular synthesis of virtual scenic architecture, video, sound and theatre design, with live, mediated and recorded performance.
Interweaving three stories, SUPER VISION is a complex visual and musical exploration of the 'data body,' the shaping of presence and identity in the data stream continually constructed around us.
During the six days of my visit, I was able to record interviews with Marianne Weems of The Builders Association and James Gibbs of dbox, as well as eleven company members and associates.
Along with Marianne and James, I was able to talk with Moe Angelos, Kyle deCamp, Constance DeJong, Dan Dobson, Peter Flaherty, Allen Hahn, Stewart Laing, Rizwan Mirza, David Pence, Tanya Selveratnam, as well as Norman Frisch who has collaborated with the company on past projects.
SUPER VISION emerged out of the collaboration of many artists and contributors, full details of which are available through the SUPER VISION website at http://www.superv.org
The agreed, edited transcriptions of these recordings will form the basis of a documentation and exploration of SUPER VISION and the process of its development.
Forming one of the key projects within the Presence Collaboratory at http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/339, this process will also explore the collaborative, online documentation of performance.
For me, this has been a unique opportunity to discuss in detail the process and realisation of a performance that crosses disciplinary boundaries and has been evolved in a close and intensely creative collaboration between all aspects of its production.
Details of tour dates for SUPER VISION are available at http://www.superv.org
The Builders Association are at http://www.thebuildersassociation.org/flash/flash.html?homepage
dbox are at http://www.dbox.com/