[spectre] EMPAC Opening October 3-19, 2008

[emily]

EMPAC Opening October 3-19, 2008

The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY 12180

RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
http://www.empac.rpi.edu

Participating artists: The Wooster Group; dumb type; Workspace Unlimited;
Verdensteatret; Vox Vocal Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble;
Per Tengstrand; Madlib; Cecil Taylor; Pauline Oliveros; Richard Siegal/The
Bakery; Robert Normandeau, Fieldwork, Gamelan Galak Tika + Ensemble Robot,
and more.

The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center opens with a celebration
spanning three weekends, from October 3-19 (see schedule below).

EMPAC is located 2.5 hours north of New York City, 3 hours south of Montreal,
and 3 hours west of Boston in Troy, NY. All opening events are free and open
to the public, and most events require tickets. Reserve now, as seating is
limited!

Dedicated to the advancement of artistic production integrating new
approaches and research at the intersection of technology, media and the
performing arts, a major emphasis at EMPAC is the commissioning of new
performances and time-based installations.

EMPAC's new 220,000-square foot building, designed by the British firm
Grimshaw, is both a signature work of architecture and a unique facility that
combines many specialized venues under one roof, including: a 1,200-seat
concert hall; a 400-seat theater; two black-box studio spaces; and
artist/researcher work spaces, all capable of simultaneous, acoustically
isolated use. Technical innovations are found in all venues: from the Concert
Hall's adjustable fabric ceiling, which allows acoustical flexibility, and
its near-silent HVAC; the Studios' "tunable" tilting wall tiles; to the
Theater's 70-foot fly tower and computer controlled rigging.

Both a place and a program, EMPAC is an arts institution that draws strength
from being part of a great research university. It operates nationally and
internationally: attracting innovative artists, both renowned and emerging,
from around the world; offering artists, researchers, and audiences
opportunities that are available nowhere else; providing unsurpassed
facilities for research and creative exploration, sending new artworks onto
the global stage.

FRIDAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 – 5, 2008
The Gala Weekend offers audiences an introduction to the EMPAC program and
mission with performances ranging from 15th-century choral music performed in
a 21st-century concert hall to interactive 360-degree video installations to
contemporary performances that merge visual media, theater and sound. A
Presidential Colloquy and the official Ribbon Cutting on October 3 begin the
weekend—and the festivities. Public artistic performances and research
presentations begin Saturday, October 4.

THURSDAY – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 – 11, 2008
The Symposium Weekend brings together an internationally diverse group of
directors from leading research institutions to share their work in art,
design and media-based research, spanning augmented reality to the
visualization and auralization of scientific data. Performances,
installations and exhibitions continue throughout the long weekend.

FRIDAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 19, 2008
Homecoming and Family Weekend focuses on the greater Rensselaer community.
Events and performances ranging in genre and style—including many student
groups—will reflect the diversity of the Rensselaer campus activities.

For full schedule, reservations and further information, go to
www.empac.rpi.edu.