Syndicate: <nettime> Hong Kong Arts Festival 99 - web broadcasting & seek curator...Videotag

[abroeck@v2.nl (andreas broeckmann)]

Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 20:17:41 +0800
From: Videotage <videotage@hknet.com>
Subject: web broadcasting & seek curator...Videotage


                              The Atlas -  Video Opera

Hong Kong Arts Festival 99                                       Exxon
Energy Limited
presents
sponsored

An Exxon Vision
                                                    (HK Time) 8:00pm.
12th -13th Feb. 1999
                                                   3:00pm.    13th Feb.
1999
                         Studio Theatre, Hong Kong Cultural Centre, Hong
Kong

                 A Flowery Flowery World and Videotage production

Programme Description

Every city has its own map, and everyone who reads the map will find a
city of his own imagination. The memory of city-dwellers is an atlas -
of words, images, sound, touch, smell and taste, or of an individual or
collective mirage created out of imaginative personal time-tracks.

Based on Hong Kong writer Dung Kai-cheungs novel The Atlas -
Archaeology of an Imaginary City as a basis, composer Chan Ming-chi and
multi-media theatre worker Afa Chiang collaborate with several other
local artists to bring us a new understanding of the city.   They will
present the work by composing original music, images, installations and
body language to  a maps concept  with its all ratios, legends,
longitudes and latitudes. This programme is a contemporary music concert
staged in a special theatrical space created by video images, lighting
and dance.


This will be the first time in Hong Kong that literature, music,
performance, video art and the electronic media network come together in
a single boundary-breaking programme.  It will be an amalgamation of
concert, broadcast, theatre performance, exhibition, and literature.
Participants both inside and outside the theatre will be able to create
and experience a brand-new dimension of space and time.


Artistic Aspect

1. Stage and Visual Image
Multi media theatre artist Afa Chiang works with visual images and the
stage  setting-up to create special effects within the confines of a
theatre. Taking the structure and concepts of the book as the starting
point, local video/visual artists -Ellen Pau, Yank Wong, Wong Chi-fai,
Jamsen Law, Ernest Fung, Lo Yin-shan, Mark Chan and Choi Yee-yuen, will
create images of Hong Kong which can be associated to the performance
thematically on their own interpretation on the five movements (the
Standing Point, the Physical Stage, the Emotions, the Traveling Path and
the Next Step) of our living environment.  The screening  of these video
images during the performance will provide a visual dimension to the
performance structure and to stimulate  the  audiences appreciation of
>the total theatre. Body movement  will also be staged. The parallel
images of the live and pre-recorded images creates a dialogue about the
real life and the virtual world.

With the technical assistance from AT &T, Tiger Information Systems
Ltd.,  Mei Ah Innoweb Co Ltd., Microsoft Hong Kong Ltd. and The Chinese
University of Hong Kong (HKIX),  the live transmission from three other
locations will be synchronized with its digital broadcasting from the
theatre, which means that the on-site audience and web-site users can
simultaneously enjoy performance taking place at different places.  The
concept of such setting is to break down the physical boundary of
performance which is limited by the architectural space of the theatre.

2. Music and musical performance - The Unpredictable Universe
Award winning local composer Chan Ming-chi will focus on the drawing
inspiration and space references from Dungs philosophical contemplation
affected by the geographical changes of Hong Kong over the past
century.  Chan will write a 80 minutes Chinese chamber music work
divided into five movement for an ensemble of The Atlas Ensemble and New
Tune Music Association .

The placement of the musicians will be in accordance with the spirit of
ying-yang and the five elements(metal, wood, water, fire and earth).
Sound and colour design will change along with shifts in time and
direction.  Musicians will circulate around the audience and play the
sheng, whose long sustained sounds represent the frozen moment in time
of non-existence in the womb of the Universe.  In addition, the
impressions conveyed by the performers interact with other image media
so that all participants - performers, audience, listeners - will
realize that a map goes beyond any boundaries of space and time to
create a pluralistic space of complexity.

Technological Aspect
This production tries to utilize technology as a tool to break down the
physical boundary of the performance which is limited by the
architectural space of the theatre.

1. ISDN transmission
Other than the pre-recorded video, live images will also boardcasted
during the performance. ISDN lease line will be used to transmit images
of three different live happenings from three selected locations - the
Central escalator, Cafe Visage Too and the Videotage office back to the
theatre.  This adds an extra spatial and temporal dimension to the
performance. The multiple layers of image will give an ambiguity meaning
to the definition of real/delay time and the different location/space
while the audience is watching the performance.

2. Internet broadcast
The performance in the Hong Kong Cultural Centre and the images of the
other locations will be live broadcasted over the internet using the
Microsoft Winnov internet broadcast software programme and internet
technology.  Internet broadcasting is a rapid growing trend on the net
because it allows any form of events, for instance concerts, to be
broadcasted through the internet network to millions of audience in the
world at the same time without going through the channels of TV or
radio.  It creates a cyber event which allows internet users from all
over the world  to view the performance at a different angle at the same
time as the audience inside the theatre.


3. Web Page - http://www.the-atlas.com.hk/
The web page is an extended art form of this multi-layer program. The
navigator idea on the internet will provide a different aspect of the
conceptual  development of the performance. Internet users can assess
the wed page to share images and sound clips of the program. During the
show time, they can see the whole performance in the four venues by
downloading the Winnov software from The Atlas web page
http://www.the-atlas.com.hk.


This is a city that belongs to travellers.  Therefore, we must all
encompass within ourselves the easily sated avidity and instantly
satisfied curiosity of a traveller.

Give comment to us: videotage@hknet.com
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------

VIDEOTAGE
MEDIA ARTISTS COLLECTIVE

Curator of the Microwave Festival 99'

Videotage seeks candidates for the position of Curator of the Microwave
Festival 99. The curator is responsible for the direction and programs
of the Festival, which is comprised of an international video screening,
CD-ROM exhibition, seminar and artist-in-residence workshop. Besides
supervising and coordinating the whole festival with the staff in
Videotage and other curator(s) in Hong Kong, the curator is also
expected to hold one seminar in video/media art during the festival.
Videotage will offer the flight ticket, accommodation and curator fee in
the amount of  HK$15000.

Candidates should have strong curatorial experience with video and media
art. Interested persons are asked to submit a curriculum vitae, along
with at least two or three samples of scholarly publications or works
(VHS, slide or photo) to the General Manager,
Videotage, 9/F., Block A, 12 Oil Street, North Point, Hong Kong, China
before April 30,1999.

Videotage is a non-profit artist collective that focuses on the
development of new media in Hong Kong.  Starting out as a facilitator
for collaborative projects, Videotage has evolved into an operation
dedicated to the production, development and study of film, video and
other alternative time-based media arts.
Web-site: http://www.videotage.org.hk

Microwave Festival

In 1996, Videotage co-presented with the Urban Council and Zuni
Icosahedron Hong Kong's first international video festival.  Today,
Microwave Festival remains the only International media arts festival in
Hong Kong. Programs include:
-International video art showcase
-Artist-in-residence programs
-Exhibition
-Conference
Since its initial launch, Microwave Festival has expanded into the realm
of multimedia arts including a CD-ROM works exhibition in 1997.
International artists and curators attended the festival included:
-Rea Tajiri (U.S.A.)
-Steve Hawley (U.K.)
-Kathy High (U.S.A.)
-Mike Leggit (Australia)
-Kate Craig (Canada)
-Eder Santos (Brazil)
-Beth Jackson (Australia)
-Hsu Cheng-ren(Taiwan)