thoughts on the theme

Hi everyone, I was thinking about "distraction", and "the medium is the message." After reading Cris' post on communications, it struck me: why not "CONNECTEDNESS"? The mediums we work in today tend to be evaluated in terms of how they connect us to each (like the webcam video conference yesterday -- pretty amazing!) and how they disconnect us (also like the webcam video conference yesterday, when we got those weird sci-fi-looking compression errors).  Cellphones connect and disconnect us, so do our personal computers, social networking... and distraction is one way it disconnects (and maybe connects, too?) What does everyone think?

I'd also argue that IMPACT is all about connectedness -- because it is a multimedia workshop that celebrates our specialties and differences by bringing us all together for a chance to make art and to learn.  The final performance is the very embodiment of how our mediums/messages can powerfully connect us through art, despite different interests, which side of the ocean we came from, whether we dance or program computers or sing...

workshop ideas...

Potential dance workshop ideas

- Have the students brainstorm different ideas with full technological options at there disposal, (thinking that that was the goal) then switch the aim and ask, what is it that they are trying to evoke, and how could that be done with out anything other than their bodies? The result would be utilizing technology ONLY when necessary....

-Exploring living in the Now. Feeling comfortable with improv, with out distractions. This is the piniacle of being present. If one becomes distracted, the improvisation suffers. Utilizing Pilobolus warm up technique, general dance terms (engaging the full body, heightened awareness of surroundings, accute availability to interact and add on), and some structure, we'd explore this concept and see how set choreo could organically evolve from this state.

The messenger is the medium?

Expanding on thoughts from today's meeting.

To twist a phrase, and taking "medium" in its definition of "a go between", perhaps the messenger - in this case cellphones, crackberries, netbooks, etc - is the ultimate arbitrator of our communications. The medium (electronic) is most certainly part of the message, but the device being used necessarily changes the meaning of the message. Maybe.

Also, perhaps there are good sides to the constant electronic ecology - I like this video (PG-13).

Drew and Kenji's Film

Kenji responded to the idea of "Distractions" which was suggested by a comment from Nick. Here is the Short Film Kenji cited. Just a word to all of us.... put things in the Blog so they are immediately part of the Blog so we can experience the work without leaving the Blog.

Bronx Space

Greetings, Creative Colleagues!

Below is the link for The American Banknote Building that I was talking about. If it's of interest, I'll move forward with my contacts!

http://www.thebanknotenyc.com

Getting Started

This Blog is one of the ways we are exploring collaboration... it is itself a collaborative technology. It is great to read comments on entries, and perhaps you will generate new entries that invite comments that propel this multilogue along the paths of themes and ideas. There is no particular destination... just the voyage and stimulating (more than simulating) thought... as thoughts collide they create parallel universes and possibilities...

In Search of a Theme

A theme or concept has served as a starting point for the IMPACT teams of the past two years and helped participants develop their creative ideas in the context of a unifying idea. In the first year, we used the book Einstein's Dreams by Alan Lightman. Scenes were created based on the short stories that explored time and relativity. In the second year we used the concept 080808 since we were performing on August 8 and ending at 8.

We need something that is abstract enough to generate ideas and yet somehow currently relevant. What are some ideas that might inspire us to explore and create responses to world and cultural issues, or directions that might take us to some tipping point?

space...

Hi there! I wanted to find out more info about the spaces, as far as rigging....who do I contact? Thanks! Karen

IMPACT: The Medium is the Message

Half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan "electrified" the world through his observation that the medium itself was actually the message, shifting from content to process. This was a monumental shift for the western world, but in fact it has had an enormous global effect. McLuhan was one of the first cultural critics who recognized that the emerging media would literally turn the world into a village.

The Medium is the Message

The Medium is the Massage

Concurrent with the McLuhan's impact on the arts and technology was the emergence of an early multimedia artist, Alwin Niklolais. Nikolais was among the first true multimedia artists, creating multimedia theatre that transformed the human figure as a chameleon-like morphing creature experienced as abstractions, and provoked a new artistic dialogue about the human condition and the human frame.