[spectre] Turbulence Commission: "Variations VII: FishNet" by Mobius Artists Group

[Turbulence]

November 27, 2006
Turbulence Commission: "Variations VII: FishNet" by Mobius Artists Group
http://turbulence.org/works/FishNet
Needs Real Audio, Quicktime and Windows Media Player plugins; speakers on;
high speed (DSL/Cable or better) internet connection recommended.

In "Variations VII: FishNet," the primary component is an autonomous network
space in which the listener/visitor will "fish" among a myriad of live
audio/visual internet feeds. These will include sources such as air traffic
controllers, police and fire departments, horse races, and webcams. The
project will also make use of live, distributed input from cell phones. The
outcome will be an environment built by the team of artists, but freely
explored by visitors to the virtual and live sites. The artists will provide
the resources for a distributed audience to create its own experience of
synchronicity. FishNet is inspired by John Cage's Variations VII, a
pioneering "art and engineering" performance event from 1966.

"Variations VII: FishNet" is a 2006 commission of New Radio and Performing
Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made
possible with funding from the LEF Foundation.

BIOGRAPHIES

MARGARET BELLAFIORE uses personal imagery to create installation and
performance. She has been experimenting with a series of drawings, inspired
by John Cage, that use chance operations to decide composition, color, brush
width, etc.  She has participated in artist exchanges in Macedonia and
Croatia, 1996, 1999, 2000. Her most recent performance, Mobius International
Festival 2006, explores her conflict with the war in Iraq. She has a degree
in Biology from St. Johns Universiy as well as the Diploma and Fifth Year
Certificate from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts. Bellafiore has been
a member of the Mobius Artists Group since 1992.

LAWRENCE JOHNSON works in a variety of time-based and interactive media,
often centered around language. These works range from intricate multimedia
performances with computer-generated sounds and animations to simple texts
read out loud. He has taught for 37 years at the School of the Museum of
Fine Arts, where he pioneered the use of computers in art-making in 1978. He
has been a member of Mobius Artists Group for 13 years, where among other
things, he has collaborated on realizations of many works of John Cage.

DAVID MILLER has been a member of the Mobius Artists Group since 1980. He
has worked in a variety of media, including spoken word/sound poetry, sound
art and experimental theater. Since the mid-1990s he has specialized in
realizing some of the more theatrically-oriented works of John Cage. At
present, he is beginning to develop performance works based on close
observation of the mundane details of everyday life.

Trombone explorer TOM PLSEK has been stretching trombones and our concepts
of them for years. His compositions include pieces for ensembles and solo
trombone that often incorporate improvisation, technology, and performance
art. He has performed with such artists as Phill Niblock, the Merce
Cunningham Dance Company, Marjorie Morgan, and the Outsider Quartet. Plsek
is a member of the Mobius Artists Group and Chair of the Brass Department at
Berklee College of Music in Boston. The Gu series, a monthly performance
series created with Marjorie Morgan and based on one of the hexagrams from
the I Ching, was selected by the Boston Globe as one of the top ten 2002
dance events in Boston. He is featured on several recording including
"Firehouse Futurities," 1999: Rastascan Records (BRD038) and Tautology
(005); and "Jump or Die; 21 Braxton Compositions 1992," Music and Arts
(CD-843).

Jo-Anne Green, Co-Director
New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc.: http://new-radio.org
New York: 917.548.7780 . Boston: 617.522.3856
Turbulence: http://turbulence.org
New American Radio: http://somewhere.org
Networked_Performance Blog: http://turbulence.org/blog
Upgrade! Boston: http://turbulence.org/upgrade