excuse me for this coming so late, but I fixed a revised version of our
definitions for the saturday meeting of oudeis team vienna, again, put
together from the replies on oudeis-idea. I will now update this again , so
that we will all have the same version tonight
(12:30 EST, 11:30 CST)
I am sorry I did not include everywhere where the quote comes from, but we
will publish it in the net as "common written", ok?
This will be the artistic concept - not the marketing concept.
1 ) The play
7 Epeisodions that tell stories from Homers Odyssey, acted out by virtual
and real actors. Each Epeisodion is framed by the Stasimas.=20
A Stasima is the sound of the choros, which is made by the virtual audience.=
=20
1.1 ) Language
so will everybody be speaking in neglish, or a healthy mix of languages
will be heard all over the globe?
i prefer the second one. it has quite a few advantages over English:
1. the actors will focus on dealing with acting. i think it's hard enough
to speak to a light bulb... and quite harder if you're not speaking your
language.
2. almost all of the audience on RL stages will understand the local
language, but not all of them may understand English. and besides
understanding, it will be easier to _enjoy_.
3. Web audience usually understands English pretty well, but all of us
non-english/american/australian/etc. like to have the choice to use our
language. so almost everybody has different versions of their sites in
different languages. Internet is multilingual, why should we loose this on
the play?
4. the analogy gets closer to reality. ulysses spoke greek, internet is
multilingual. let's have a multilingual party next year (and remember to
include greek!).
2 ) Stage
Each venue will have a stage in the size of 8m x 8m, an connection to the
Internet, a special technical (including the sensor technique) and
lightning equipment.=20
In the forefront the audience will see the stage, where the actors are
posed. Behind the stage the technicians and the computing equipment will be
visible. As an additional visual material there will be also some screens
in the back.
here the long promised sketch of the stage=20
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/3721/stage.gif
by Santiago Pereson
2.1 .1.) Journey
On the table you can see how Odysseus and his opponents travel from venue
to venue, In each Epeisodion there will be an interaction between at least
two stages, which will differ from scene to scene.
The auditorium sees either one real actor and one or two virtual actors or
only virtual actors on their stage.
2.2 ) Variations of Hades
=09
see
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~oudeis/oudeis/english/chart.html
2.2.1 )
We are strongly influenced by the book of Christine Pellech, "Die Odyssey.
Eine antike Weltumsegelung", Berlin: Reimer 1983 where she describes the
Egyptians as the originators of the stories of the journey found in Homers
Odyssey. The Phoenician (serving the Egyptians) were known for their
journeys on the sea (contrary to the Greek!)
The locations she finds (because of the description given of Homer,
directions, ocean currents, blowing of the wind ...) are:
Lotos-Eaters people found in the west from Egypt, on the coast of=
Nord-africa
Cyclops south of Tunisia
Island of Aeolus Pantelleria (Italian Islands)
Island of the Lestrygoinans Coast of Norway
Island of Aeaea, home of Circe Island of the Lofotes, near Norway
Hades Valley of St. Lawrence, Niagara falls
Island of the Sirens Brasilia, world of the birds
Tierra del Fuego, Anden
Charybdis Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean=20
Scylla native American and the islands reaching to India
Island of Hyperion Delta of the Indus
Island of Calypso, Ogygia Penisula of Arabia
Phaecians Egyptian in Sinai
Ithaca Phoenician
Following this Gernot and I chose geographic locations where in the current
status, stages are possible
Island of Aeolus Pantelleria (Italy) Rom (our partner Francesco
Verdinelli)
Island of Aeaea, home of Circe Island of the Lofotes, near Norway digital
city Amsterdam
Hades Valley of St. Lawrence, Niagara falls Chicago (Studio Z)
Island of the Sirens Brasilia, world of the birds Rio / Buenos Ayres
for her map see
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~oudeis/oudeis/concept/map1.html
2.3 .1.) Webstage
San: big question: how will virtual audience 'see' all this. i have some
ideas,
but i'd prefer if you/gernot told us yours.
-------------- still looking for a designer of the webstages as well ! I am
always thinking of some visualization like gupi has drawn it in his first
sketches. A simple chessboard with moving cones on it (in "simple" 3D or in
2D)
San: but wouldn't this be a bit boring?
[i know i'm complaining without proposing something different... we're
(with Guillermo here) thinking about it]
Boris: But should the design of the webstage imitate/document the design of
the real stage or should it have a design of its own? In the latter case I
could think of a quasi-3D representation (3D perspective) of the stage,
with a changing background (.gif) everytime the setting of the play changes
(how could one indicate a change of setting?). True, in that way, the
webstage would be closer to a traditional stage, but I wonder whether a
simple representation (2D, top view, moving color circles?) would be
fascinating enough? Should the virtual audience see the changes from light
cone to RL actor and back? (I think it should, but how ...?)
3 ) Actors:
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~oudeis/oudeis/abb/abb008.html
by gupi
3.1 ) Real Actors
On each venue at least one player is needed to perform. Probably two actors
will be needed in the most cases because of the quick change of the scenes
to change costume (see =84The Variations of Hades").=20
Theoretically up to 6 actors can interact at the same time (with one being
on every stage).=20
3.1.1 ) costumes?
Gernot thought of very colorful, decorated costumes,
I thought of the actors dressed in black, "working costumes" to speak with
the words of Meyerhold, maybe dancing or sporting clothes, but very simple,
like the light cones are very simple as well.
Boris would opt for the "working costumes" as well, since they seem to
match with the overall technical and sober atmosphere of the whole. Since
you are showing a great deal of the "machinery" (computers and technicians
- in white overalls? - visible to the audience, Zeus typing on the screen)
I feel the epic component is quite prominent, anyway. Further on, splendid
costumes stress the notion of a individual and developed character - but as
it seems to me, a certain degree of exchangeability on the part of the
characters is part of the concept. The actors should oppose the light cones
by virtue of their pure physicality, not by individuality. (?) Further on,
the use of splendid costumes might give the idea of a more traditional
theatre and could encourage the idea that you have some sort of
confrontation in mind, theatre vs. media or something of that kind
(whereas, to my understanding, the whole project aims more at a symbiosis
than at a confrontation of the two).
3.2 ) Light Cones
Each real actor is represented as a light cone on the other stages, so that
the audience everywhere can watch and hear all actors playing. The audience
connected via their computerscreen will get the visualization and the sound
of all actors.=20
3.2.1 ) Light equipment
3.2.2 ) Microphones
3.3 ) Interaction
This question of interplay between actors is fundamental.
4 ) Audience:
4.1 ) Real Audience
On each stage a "real" audience will participate the ongoing on the stage.
But synchronously there will also be the possibility to participate via any
computer that is hooked on to the lines of the Internet from all around the
world.=20
4.2 ) Choros
The choros in the tragedy represented the people. In Oudeis the choros will
represent the audience who follows the play on computer screens, so that
they will have a special opportunity to interact and comment on the play.=20
4.2.1 ) sounds
a sound event can be thought as a complex phenomena.=20
ie: a piano note has a 'behavior' through it's duration (it starts loud and
then gets softer, starts with lots of harmonics and slowly looses them,=
etc.)
some sounds have 'other sounds' within them.=20
ie: when a glass falls and breaks, the sound is composed of lots of small
sounds of each of the parts of the glass.
so you may make music for a piano (having around 88 sound-producing
strings) or for glasses, or for pre-recorded sounds.
in short, the sound database, the collection of small vocal pieces are like
the strings of a piano being played by lots of people from Internet.
4.2.2 ) Interaction
Sounds of voices singing 'a capella' in greek, composed by an international
group round Santiago Pereson, will be produced by instructions sent by the
virtual audience during the play. Two loudspeakers will make this sound on
the stage. This sum of voices will sound like a chorus, each voice is
'triggered' by someone over the net and most of this voices will be
processed to have a 'realAudio' sound, the sound format most used in the=
net.
In oudeis, any spectator may send a sound to the stages, colaborating in
this way with the actors, adding meaning. This interaction will also be
visible for all spectators - the active ones and the ones who are only
watching. It will be made by some sort of 'score', made up of dots on a
two-dimensional 'canvas'. This can then be 'played' by the computer that
deals with the choros. x would be time and y would be a sound choice.
ie: time (seconds?)
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 O
2 O O
sound 3 O O
4 O
number 5 O
6 O O
7
The number of 'dots' that are drawn will keep updating during the episodes
on a screen behind the stage, visible for the other audience members then,
in the Stasima (between two Epeisodions) the picture would 'freeze' - and
be played.
4.2.3 ) Limitations
<<i'm sitting at home, watching this fantastic internet play, when i
realize there's a button that reads 'push me to make sound'. ok, i push the
button. nothing happens. it's not working, maybe a bug in the play's
website. i won't push it again anymore.>>
this can happen if the spectator tries to make sound and the limit has
already been reached (remember the limit thing?). Guillermo Vega (another
non-email partner here) realized that.
now, what can we do to avoid this?
5 ) The gods
In Oudeis there are the technicians who have the outlook to be omnipotent.
They have a power combined with little faults just like the greek goods
used to have. Dependent on the goodwill of the lines of the net they stir
Odysseus, his opponents, the audience - and themselves - through the play
of the journey.
(------- here is some clear definition still missing. Looking for some
combination or inspiration by the greek myth of creation: mother earth /
Eurynome / Night is coming out of the chaos, conceiving the "worldegg" from
the wind--------)
The gods are visualized by the presence of the working technicians behind
the stage.
Rainer: I guess we need 2 or 3 technicians on each stage. one for the
"overall computing", one for lighting and maybe one for other, remaining
tasks.
- this doesn't include staff for setting up the whole thing (roadies etc.)
Lee: Not All Gods Are Equal
There are higher gods and there are minor gods. To carry Monika's anology
a little further I would say that the technicians are minor gods (no
offense intended) since they must take their directions from Rainer who is,
in turn, a minor god (and not yet the emperor of Austria) when compared to
the dramaturg from whom he must take his directions. =20
I could carry this even further and include Gernot but I do not want to
give him an even greater sense of omnipotence than he already has (only
kidding, Gernot, don't send a
lightning bolt to strike me).
The point I am making is that there are different levels of deities and
giving them a presence (virtual and real) on the stage is not mutually
exclusive to the ideas expressed by Monika. For instance, Aeolos and
Hermes are both minor gods. As now envisioned, isn't their presence going
to be seen onstage?
6 ) The Screens
Behind the stage there will be posed some screens that visualized several
points:
Rainer: I'd like to pin down what has to be displayed when on which screen:
when:
- before the performance
- during the performance
- during breaks
- during net lags/breakdowns
- after the performance
which screen:
- screen 1 (leftmost)
[...]
- screen n (rightmost)
what:
6.1.1 ) Map
A map of the journey of our Odysseus: On a (historical?) map you will see
Odysseus making his way. From stage to stage, using the lines of the net,
building our own net between the venues. (maybe this will be parted in two
or three screens / map)=20
- the famous map of the world where odysseus voyage from point a to point b=
=20
is displayed
6.1.2 ) Music
A screen that shows the drawing of the choros and in during the stasimas
the "picture" of the music heard.
- visualization of sound (peak level meter, ....)
or the choros 'score' (remember the dot thing?)
see also
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/3721/writing.gif
this is what happens to you when you have those wonderfull ideas... ;)
6.1.3 ) Text
A screen that shows the text of the Episodions (in English and in the
mother tongue of the venue?)
6.1.4 )=20
A bar graph or some kind of chart that shows the data transmission, the
"traffic on the information highway"
- net data (traceroute, ping, throughput, ....)
6.2 ) The Lobby
A)=20
To establish a relationship between the audience members on every venue,
there use of a TV connection is intended. TV screens placed in the Lobby
would show pictures taken live from the audience of the other stages. By
moving, waving and saying cheers the audience members could interact
worldwide before and after the actual play.
B)
A alternative idea came up on saturday (quote Rainer) it is intended to set
up several "surf stations" in the foyer of the theatre to give the audience
the possibility to chat with the audience of the other stages after the
performance, to discuss the performance etc.
since this isn't a mission critical application and only standard internet
client software (irc, www, cuseeme, ...) is required, it is encouraged to
use a different operating system & hardware, possibly from other sponsors
like Apple etc. The rule is: The more, the better; but at least 4 stations
(computers) should be supplied.
IMHO, these surf stations are optional (no sponsor, no surf stations)
7 ) The Internet + Odysseus journey =3D Oudeis
7.1 ) Metaphor
In all of the strange and exotic lands Odysseus journeyed there were two
things that remained constant, the sea and sky. These two elements that
unite all of the locations of The Odyssey and unite all of the RL stages
of Oudeis.
7.2 ) History of the Internet from
http://www.internetvalley.com/intvalconcl.html
Internet at CERN: 1976 - 1990=20
7.2.1 ) In the beginning was - chaos.=20
In the same way that the theory of high energy physics interactions was
itself in a chaotic state up until the early 1970's, so was the so-called
area of "Data Communications" at CERN. The variety of different techniques,
media and protocols used was staggering; open warfare existed between many
manufacturers' proprietary systems, various home-made systems (including
CERN's own "FOCUS" and "CERNET"), and thethen rudimentary efforts at
defining open or international standards...=20
7.2.2 ) The Stage is Set - early 1980's.=20
To my knowledge, the first time any "Internet Protocol" was used at CERN
was during the second phase of the STELLA Satellite Communication Project,
from 1981-83, when a satellite channel was used to link remote segments of
two early local area networks (namely "CERNET", running between CERN and
Pisa, and a Cambridge Ring network running between CERN and Rutherford
Laboratory). This was certainly inspired by the ARPA IP model, known to the
Italian members of the STELLA collaboration (CNUCE, Pisa) who had ARPA
connections...
7.3 ) Worldwide Creativity
7.4 ) Net lags
Two issues - the everthreatening Netlags/Netsplits and the dramaturgical
need to display the Net somehow in the play - could be (partly) handled by
providing the RL-audience with pictures/short video clips of a -
quiet/stirred? - ocean via monitors at the beginning of the play,
accompanied by a mixture of sea sounds and Netnoise during possible
problems of any kind, i.e. Netlags/-splits ... this could - apart from
making it visible - make for a dramaturgical representation of the Net as
the other protagonist in the performance.
so when there's a net lag some 'god' on the stage will 'push the red
button' and we get a net storm?
Er, well, I didn't really think of presenting this via a definite action on
the part of the actors, I just imagined the worst case happening to fit
into the dramatic concept by switching off the light (cones, too) and
cranking up the sea-sound, at the same time giving the picture of a stirred
ocean as the only visual input for the RL audience. As I reread Santiago's
remark, I feel that this idea questions the role of the technicians on the
stage - they can't be gods in this case, maybe just helpers. The gods
themselves would stay invisible. When, after the netsplit, the lights go on
again and the action on the stage resumes, the audience should have
understood that not only the people on the stage, but they, too, find
themselves at the mercy of the Internet as some godly instance (sorry for
the metaphsysics, I'm reading "Count Zero" at the moment).
I left out the technical points here.=20
And I suppose that we will have to shorten it for the printed version,
maybe some of the points should be kept back as "internal" discussion.=20
i've found producers/managers (and local partners) don't like 'not yet
decided' things, so i guess anything that is not definitive should be left
out of the printed version.
looking forward to see you today,
Mon
------------------------------alles Theater--------------
Monika Wunderer wunderer@st1hobel.phl.univie.ac.at
++ 43 (1) 892 35 20
http://st1hobel.phl.univie.ac.at/~wunderer/
http://iguwnext.tuwien.ac.at/~oudeis/
