Envisioned by 60×60 project director Robert Voisey and choreographer Jeramy Zimmerman, this one-of-a-kind performance consists of 60 modern dance pieces set to 60 different and brand-new one-minute compositions. Dance influences range from ballet and tango to postmodern movements, while music includes medieval chant, neo-romantic chamber music, jazz, pop, electronica and everything but the kitchen sink.

“We’re living in a world of information overload where channel surfing has become an aesthetic onto itself,” explains Robert Voisey, founder and director of the new music consortium Vox Novus, which initiated the 60×60 project in 2003 with one-hour concerts featuring one composer per minute. “How short can a composition be for it to get its message across? Our goal is to disseminate the largest amount of music and dance to a broad spectrum of people.”

Eclectic by nature, 60×60 Dance offers an unmatched diversity of aesthetics,styles and techniques, making for a fast-speed, exhilarating event which never ceases to surprise. Music selections for the WFC event have been culled from an international pool of emerging and established composers, and then assigned to an equally varied mix of New York-based choreographers
assembled by Jeramy Zimmerman. During the event, the compositions will be played in succession over loud speakers. A large analog clock will keep track of time, with each minute marking the end of one dance and the beginning of another.

The 60 composers include Laurie Spiegel, Maggi Payne, Gene Pritsker, Christian Alequin, Robert Allaire, Nathan Asman, Gilberto Assis Rosa, Benjamin Boone, Adrian Borza, Courtney Brown, Paul Burnell, Russell Cannon, Nicholas Chase, David Claman, Jesse S. Clark, Adam Di Angela, Massimo Fragalà, William Francis, funf, Marji Gere, Josh Goldman, Alejandro Guerro, David Hahn, Cheyenne Henderson, Joel Hickman, Tilman Kuntzel, HyeKyung Lee, Cyprian Li, Sean Luciw, Gilles Maillet, Mike McFerron, Jordan McLean, Leslie de Melcher, Todd Merrell, Justin Merritt, Jeff Morris, David Morneau, Tim Mukherjee, Julia Norton, Junya Oikawa, Milicia Paranosic, Jeff Pfaumbaum, Bob Pollio, Schahram Poursoudmand (Lichtschrei), Jeffrey Raheb, Reconsiderate, Prent Rodgers, Paul Russell, Mark Scarpelli, Thorsten Scheerer (”Lilienweiss”), Dan Sedgwick, Louis Sellers, David Ben Shannon, Alex Shapiro, Nivedita ShivRaj, Alan Shockley, Patrick Smith, Mingzhu Song, Anthony St. Pierre, Robert Voisey, and Michael Wittgraf.

The 60 choreographers include Mary Cochran, Guta Hedewig, Pascal Rekoert/Flexicurve, Dixie FunLee Shulman, Marcela Alvarez, Germaul Barnes, Hettie Barnhill, Denise Binder, Samir Bittar, Deborah Black, Kim Blanchard, Jessica Bonenfant, Emily Bufferd, Preston Burger, Bryan Campbell, Veronica Carnero, Elana B Cohen, Emma Cotter/RETTOCAMME Ginger Cox, Alberto Denis, Jessica Desmond, Jamie L Dowd/The Sycamore Project, Kathleen Dyer/KDNY Dance, Caron Eule, Julie Fotheringham, Marisa Jane Gruneberg, Alaine Handa/A.H. Dance Company, Jen Harmer, CJ Holm, Lauren Holstein, Kaoru Ikeda, Erin Jennings, Beth Jucovy/ Dance Visions, Eun Jung and Guillermo/Da•Da•Dance Project, Lindsey Dietz Marchant, Jordan Marinov, Kate Patchett and Melina Gac-Artigas, Kimberly Patterson, Amiti Perry, Becky Radway, Cathy Richards, Dana Reed, Eryn Rosenthal, Lynn Marie Ruse, Laura Shapiro, Leanne Schmidt, Carrie Stern, Roses Taveras, Astrid von Ussar, Mojca Ussar, Raegan Wilson/The Luvley Rae, Yin Yue, Jeramy Zimmerman/CatScratch Theatre, Courtney Zbinden, and Rishauna Zumberg.

60×60 Dance is a collaboration with 60×60, a series conceived by Vox Novus, whose mission is to produce and disseminate new music to a large and diverse audience. 60×60 debuted in New York in 2003 as an electroacoustic “tape” concert featuring 60 short electronic works. Since then 60×60 has organized dozens of concerts in the U.S. and around the world, promoting the work of more than 1000 composers. It has also expanded to include yearly collaborations with other media, including video, photography, films, sculpture, and dance. Among recent concerts and collaborations are Canadian Mix (October 2008, Toronto’s Nuit Blanche and Halifax), Midwest Mix (October 2008, Electronic Music Midwest), 60×60 Video (September 2008, French TV), and 60×60 Dance (September 2008, Galapagos). Every year, a CD is released to archive and preserve the music. The current discography includes 60×60 (2003) on Capstone, and two double-albums (2004-2005 and 2006-2007) on Vox Novus.

60×60 Dance is presented by arts>World Financial Center, which is sponsored by American Express, Battery Park City Authority, Brookfield Properties and Merrill Lynch.

“Arts World Financial Center is engaging the public like never before,” said Arts World Financial Center’s Executive and Artistic Director Debra Simon, who recently expanded the program to Brookfield Properties’ buildings in Los Angeles. “For over two decades we’ve engaged and entertained the public with hundreds of free events in one of the world’s grandest public spaces, the World Financial Center Winter Garden. At 20, it is only going to get better.”

Arts World Financial Center is sponsored by American Express, Battery Park City Authority, Brookfield Properties and Merrill Lynch.

Admission is free for all events. For more information on Arts World Financial Center, call (212) 945-0505 or click here.

02L’s live performing project The Shaidon Effect (DJ and live set) will cast a burning session of the nowadays well known THE SPECIAL PLAYER project. Kulturkajen finds itself on the harbour near midtown. It’s a flexible space dedicated to expos, theatrical and music events. This year it will be used as an overland extension location of the 480 tons barge which has hosted for all this year the headquarter of HALF MACHINE collective.

Taken to higher level of excitement by the undefined entity 02L > OUTSIDE STANDING LEVEL, a one-shot and unforgettable show will take place on 24th’s night, in a fight between interactive technologies, devastating beats and delectable dancing. Two dancers, DJ, VJ, drummer and the public will join an immersive show arbitrated by a sophisticated motion tracking environment that will take dance and sound into a complete merge.

THE SPECIAL PLAYER “interactive live temple show”, presented as a premiere project at TRANSMEDIALE’08 BERLIN (Germany) and replayed at Hiroshima Mon Amour club, Torino (Italy), during the Warp label night and hosted by PIEMONTE SHARE FESTIVAL, has more than one chance, this summer, to astonish and entertain, in a sequence of hot dates. Further information can be found on links section.

Links:
http://www.02L.net
http://www.thespecialplayer.com
http://www.myspace.com/theshaidoneffect
http://www.toshare.it
http://halfmachine.info
http://www.kulturkajen.dk

Thanks to audioculture.org.

There will be a fundraiser on Saturday night, 6 pm to midnight, at Castle Clinton in Battery Park ($10 donation). Everyone is invited!

FIGMENT is a celebration of creative culture from June 27-29, 2008 on Governors Island in New York Harbor. It provides an open forum for artists, helps build a creative community, and fosters participatory and public art. A broad spectrum of arts are represented, including sculpture, performance, music, installation, dance, costuming and activities. Figment is free and open to the public. Everyone can participate — with whatever inspires them! There will be almost every conceivable option. Come, engage, build, paint, sing, experience, think, wonder, listen, create, dance, wander: In short, the public can participate in a vast array of imaginative experiences that over 200 artists of FIGMENT have conceived — or bring their own games, costumes, activities, or small works of art.

FIGMENT has moved art from the pedestal onto the front lawn for everyone to enjoy, with over 200 artists to celebrate creative culture and non-commercial art with the public.

• Among the projects planned for this event are:

Starlight on the Island—A series of solar panel powered, spherical steel sculptures that will absorb sunlight to light the island at night.

• The Art of Skateboarding, an art installation and talk with homemade ramps constructed of recycled materials.

• “Circus Sideshow”, an interactive art installation and performance

• The Rose Petal Pool, children of all ages can interact with this rich sensory experience (multi-media sound installation)

• Maroguzcaju Theater Puppet Show, “Silencio, Silencio!,” about finding happiness in life’s details

• “Planetary Dance,” participatory rhythmic circular dance

And many many other events and performances, including a lecture schedule which includes discussions on Interactive and Participatory Art.

FIGMENT 2008 will also offer a range of offerings by video and film artists sharing both their personal and collective expressions—often influenced by Governors Island— including the documentation of the construction of an elaborate reclaimed wood sculpture and one NY native’s 1979 marriage in the island’s Trinity Church.

Other FIGMENT art installations will incorporate such innovative materials and resources as telescopes, a teepee, 2,000 silver colored flags, and a pair of five-foot tall wooden lips! The majority of sculptures and art pieces are touchable and climbable—resulting in much art that is interactive and child-friendly.

The work of both emerging and established choreographers will be featured as part of the many dance performances taking place throughout the 3-day event. Similarly, FIGMENT 2008 will have a range of performance art offerings, including such original and unusual unions as the merging of creative writing with art and improvisational drama exercises with therapeutic movement, sound, and role-play. In addition, visitors to the island can participate in the creation of pop-trash poetry done karaoke style, Ukrainian body painting, private readings at the “Poetry Brothel,” and the “intrepid” use of cameras to record various urban explorations.

The musical offerings of FIGMENT 2008 are extensive, as well as exceptional in their variety and innovation. They range from boogie and classic rock to futuristic Brooklyn hip-hop to the “healing” sounds of electric keyboards to traditional bawdy German songs about murder, madness and mayhem—to the accompaniment of an organ grinder! Many of the performances are also representative of the collaborative spirit of multiple disciplines working together: a sound installation incorporating restaurant kitchen recordings, live electric flute accompanied by modern dancers, a mix of acoustic and electronic dance music resulting from remixes of Rwandan mass and folktronica.

Finally, humor permeates many of the offerings, as probably best represented by the Celtic vocalist who will be singing her heartfelt songs about love, loss and indigestion.

For more information on the highly interactive and collaborative art exhibits, performances, music and dance events, and workshops encompassing all media, go to http://figmentnyc.org/2008/participate.html or contact Rosemary Siciliano :: rosemary [at] FIGMENTnyc.org :: 207.332.9008

Jason Freeman, music and concept :: Mark Godfrey, software development :: featuring Rova Saxophone Quartet and dancers from Santa Clara University

In Flock, music notation, electronic sound, and video animation are all generated in real time based on the locations of musicians, dancers, and audience members as they move and interact with each other. Computer vision software analyzes video from an overhead camera to determine the location of each participant, and this data is used to create music notation for four jazz saxophonists, to render a video animation, and to generate an electronic soundtrack. By inviting the audience to help create the unique music and visuals for each performance, Flock seeks to reconcile concert performance with the dynamics of collaborative creation, multi-player games, and social networks to create an engaging live event.

This hour-long work was commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami. To see a 6 minute video, http://music.columbia.edu/~jason/flock/media/introduction.html
See also:http://transition.turbulence.org/networked_music_review/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=2329

* More information about the festival: http://01sj.org/?p=330

* More information about Flock: http://www.jasonfreeman.net/flock/

* Advance tickets ($10): http://www.01sj.org/?page_id=72

In Flock, music notation, electronic sound, and video animation are all generated in real time based on the locations of musicians, dancers, and audience members as they move and interact with each other. Computer vision software analyzes video from an overhead camera to determine the location of each participant, and this data is used to create music notation for four jazz saxophonists, to render a video animation, and to generate an electronic soundtrack. By inviting the audience to help create the unique music and visuals for each performance, Flock seeks to reconcile concert performance with the dynamics of collaborative creation, multi-player games, and social networks to create an engaging live event.

This hour-long work was commissioned by the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami.

or more information about Flock: http://www.jasonfreeman.net/flock/
–
Jason Freeman
Assistant Professor, Music Department
College of Architecture
Georgia Institute of Technology
http://www.jasonfreeman.net

Dafna Naphtali is a sound-artist and improviser-composer from an eclectic musical background. As singer/guitarist/electronic-musician she performs and composes using custom sound processing of voice and other instruments. Besides her composing and improvised projects, she co-leads the digital chamber punk ensemble What is it Like to be a Bat? with Kitty Brazelton (http://www.whatbat.org) and has collaborated/performed with Lukas Ligeti, David First, Joshua Fried, Ras Moshe, Alexander Waterman, Kathleen Supové and Hans Tammen, among others and done sound design and programming for Jin Hi Kim, Shelley Hirsch, Pamela Z, Phoebe Legere, Fred Frith, Jim Staley, Henry Threadgill, Steve Coleman, Chico Freeman and others. Dafna can be heard with Mechanique(s) on a forthcoming release on In-situ, and was featured vocalist on José Halac’s CD “Dance of 1000 Heads” (Tellus), as well as on her acclaimed release with What is it Like to be a Bat? on Tzadik/Oracles.

Dafna’s residency involved dynamically controlled algorithmic improvisation, using vocal cues, Morse code and Wii controllers to elicit beat frequencies, trigger and manipulate LEMUR percussion robots and shred on Guitar bot.

Andrew Schneider is a multimedia designer and performer whose work investigates human/technological interdependence. He is the co-founder and Associate Artistic Director of the Chicago-based theatre company, BigPictureGroup. His solo performance work has been seen at P.S.122, Monkeytown, The Prelude Festival, and The Tank. His multimedia devices have been featured in Art Review, Wired, TimeOut NY, Maker Faire, SIGGRAPH, Dorkbot, the Telfair Art Museum, and at the Center Pompidou in Paris. His Solar Bikini has been featured internationally and is slated to be featured in the next Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition. His latest projects include Experimental Devices for Performance (.com) and Acting Stranger (.com). Andrew Holds a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU. He is currently working with The Wooster Group. (http://andrewjs.com)

Doing musical theatre with robots used to be Andrew’s standard joke answer to the question “So what do you want to do with your life?” Finally, a life-long dream comes true. He plans to start with a dance number, interfacing his movements with the robots via custom-built wearable controllers.

Born in New York City, Simon Morris (US/France) is a new media artist exploring urban landscapes, new musical interfaces and skateboarding. Investigating new forms of musical expression, his work examines technology and its role as a socially engaged art practice. He has conducted live performances at Eyebeam, NYC, the Article Biennale 2006 in Stavanger, Norway, the KiasmaMuseum in Helsinki, Finland and the Barker Theatre in Turku, Finland.

Simon is planning an interactive musical performance orchestrated by the movements of three skateboards.

By subway:

Take the F/M/R to 4th Ave. and walk one block down either 9th or 10th St. to 3rd Ave. LEMURplex is on 3rd Ave. between 9th & 10th Sts. Or, take the F/G to Smith & 9th Sts. and walk two blocks up 9th. Cross and then turn right onto 3rd Ave.

The Special Player is an interactive performance in the context of transmediale 08 - conspire. Involving a sophisticated responsive motion tracking environment, four contemporary dancers and its visitors, The Special Player explores a massively disquieting conspirative narration.

In the performance, the ambient digital environment provides the dancers with a complex ‘Digital Aura’, which reveals the network behind the obvious. Relaying to the ancient human fears, The Special Player throws its visitors right in the center of a sinister conspiration. Using a secret motion analysis algorithm, The Special Player selects single visitors and equips them with overwhelming power.

February 1, 2008; 9:00 pm - The Special Player (interactive live temple show) - Presentation, performance and party
February 1, 2008; midnight - The Shaidon Effect DJ Set
February 2, 2008; 5:00 pm - The Special Player (interactive live set)
February 3, 2008; 5:00 pm - The Special Player (interactive live set)

I Am You: The Special Player - The Special Player is a result of an interdisciplinary cooperation project between international choreographers, contemporary dancers, the interactive live set group 02L > Outside Standing Level, the Berlin-based Picamotics/ATTOMAAKU-Platform and libavg, an open-source high-level multimedia platform with a focus on interactive installations.

Experiments in the Studio celebrates Merce Cunningham’s commitment to commissioning more new music by American composers than any other single choreographer, and the historic relationship between Merce Cunningham and John Cage, Founding Music Director of MCDC.

In this session, Second Life avatars will dance with improvised music from Real Life at ISIM. Real Life performers are Pauline Oliveros - electronics, harmonica & small instruments with spoken word artist Ione & dancer Heloise Gold. Second Life performance will feature animations and choreography by Josephine Dorado, John D. Mitchell, Edo Paulus, Christine Benham, Lauren Watson and Sean Nevin - performing from Arizona, New York, and Amsterdam. Images and sounds of the performers from Real Life will be projected into Second Life and vice versa, creating a mashup of real and virtual improv for both audiences.

Spoken word: Ione
RL dancer: Heloise Gold
Electronics/harmonica/small instruments: Pauline Oliveros
Animations / Second Life dancers: Josephine Dorado, Edo Paulus and members of ADaPT (Association for Dance and Performance Telematics). ADaPT includes Arizona State University, Herberger College Dance: John D. Mitchell, Christine Benham, Lauren Watson; Virginia Piper School of Creative Writing: Sean Nevin
Tech Asst: Zevin Polzin

International Society of Improvised Music (ISIM) is an interdisciplinary conference that brings together performers, educators, researchers, students and community members from across the world, in an effort to recognize improvisation as a powerful tool for achieving this integration.

Galata Perform, an artist-run interdisciplinary performance venue in Istanbul, is organizing an event exploring new fields and approaches in performance. The aim is to bring together local and foreign artists from a number of disciplines, such as, performance art, experimental theatre, dance, music; all, which can be associated with the art of performance.

Artists interested in presenting their performances in Performance Time 08, are invited to email galataperform [at] gmail.com. Galata Perform will provide accommodation during the event for elected artists, in the houses of local artists and give technical support for performances. Artists will cover their traveling expenses and provide their material.