this is another first rough draft, please take a look on it, (specially
gernot) I think what I did not have straight is the presentation of the
prototype, I am still writing about the whole project=20
I put some quotes in, I am not sure how you like to be "called"/described
(especially boris, nina, kinch...) and I do not know how I can to the team
part, if we should name every participant (I hope I have not forgot
anybody, please tell me, I am really doing this in a kind of rush)=20
ok, I hope gernot and me will go through it tomorrow!
please send me every correction and everything you want to have written in
this official publishing
bye
Mon
PS: (don't care about the numbers before the "titles" of the passages ...)
Oudeis - a world wide odyssey=20
1 starting point ("invention" of the idea)
Founded in a garden of an Austrian inn, the idea of combining theater with
the communicative means of the Internet was born.=20
Oudeis - a world wide odyssey is a global theater production. The entire
production utilizes the Internet as both a tool for collaborative
development, and as a space to realize the performance in real-time. Oudeis
- a world wide odyssey is a work in progress, a journey of space, time, and
an artistic journey exploring the frontiers of the new technologies.
5 Theater
The experimental and alternative theater in the 20ies century claims a
break with tradition in theater conferring stages, texts and staging.
Already in the 20ies the Italian Futurists speak of eliminating the
proscenium stages, because of reducing the dramatic action and in the 60ies
the Fringe movement forces the artists to step out of conventional play
houses, to find new scenes and include their audience more actively into
the event.=20
*The theatre is changing. Not before our eyes, but in our perception of its
traditional physical space.=20
Andrew Garton*
Those new places are wide spread, beginning with former movie theaters and
halls, also the street is used as a performing place. These public places
are recently enlarged in exploring to the electronic space. This space that
used by telecommunication artists since the 80ies is now also entered by
the theater.=20
*The need of having an interaction between the stages is that we should
think of the world as one big stage.
Austrian dramaturge Monika Wunderer*=20
8 Internet (why is it combined with theater)
Actually, the Internet is a perfect place for theater as it is getting more
and more an appropriate place for Communications art.=20
*The effective combination of live theatre and the Internet is very tricky!
Dan Zellner*
A play can be performed with the use of the Internet in various ways. It is
not absolutely necessary to build a whole new place in the Internet to
perform a play. A stage can be situated in some of the already existing
rooms, or the online meeting places. Performances have already taken place
in the two text-based environments, IRC (Internet Relay Chat) and MOO
(Multi User Dimension Object Oriented), in the more "colorful" surroundings
of the two-dimensional chat place "Palace," and with the use of CU-SeeMe
video conferencing software, which includes real time video and audio.=20
*... for a dramaturgical representation of the Net as the other protagonist
in the performance
Boris Karnikowski*
*We do not want the internet to vanish behind the action we want to show it!
Monika Wunderer*
If building the stage in a virtual room established by the Internet, or if
using the lines of the Internet for the communication between the actors
and/or between the actors and the audience - the participants of a
performance no longer necessarily have to be at the same physical place
10 collective work in development=20
The collaborative work via the medium Internet gathered together people
from various continents and cultural environments. Starting from a small
group there are now many more people involved who communicate via email and
in online meetings. This working situation seems to be similar to the
theater projects in the 70ies.=20
*Here we are, all participating in the gestation of this giant beast known
as The Oudeis Project.
L.H. Grant*
Via three mailinglists, concerning the organization, the dramaturgy and the
technical aspects, the world wide communication is established. By using
Listserv mailinglists, information can be exchanged easily between a big
group of people.=20
Beside the asynchronous communication a synchronous way of communication is
used as well. Regularly meeting of the world wide team take place in a MOO
environment, the ATHEMOO, that was programmed especially for theater
people. MOOs are easily to access by every computer who is hooked up to the
Internet and has a telnet client installed. These online meetings showed to
have a great creative potential.
20 the Team
A team consistent of the Argentinean Composer Santiago Pereson, American
writer L. H. Grant and the participants from all around the world on the
oudeis-idea list as Boris Karinkowski and Twyla Mitchell-Shiner are working
on the dramaturgy of this project additional to the Austrian director
Gernot Lechner and the dramaturge Monika Wunderer. Brazilian Felippe
Rosenburg and American Dan Zellner joined mainly the management and
conceptual part that is organized by Austrian Karin Mayer=20
Technical Project Managment is done by Leopold Zyka, the Light Design by
Lukas Kaltenb=E4ck and Harald Bauer and Peter Koger from net.lab are taking
care of Screen Design, Sound and Net Application
Costumes are made by Ulli N=F6 and Rainer Fuegenstein looks after the
Network. The whole project is made possible with the Support of Ars
Electronica and the Department for Design and Assessment of Technology /
Social Cybernetics Subdivision (IGW), Vienna University of Technology.
Georg Leyrer, the editor of the monthly newspaper Status Quo does the
Documentation of the whole development.
Producer kis.productions
30 contents of our play
Over 2600 years ago, Homer told the famous story of the wanderings of
Odysseus. Many theories deal with the metaphor of the places that famous
Odysseus has really visited till he returned to Ithaca after ten years. As
described by Christine Pellech in "Die Odyssey. Eine antike
Weltumsegelung", (Berlin: Reimer 1983), his wanderings lead him all across
The Seven Seas. She sees the Egyptians as the originators of the stories of
the journey found in Homer=92s Odyssey. The Phoenicians serving the Egyptian=
s
were known for their journeys on the sea. Because of the description given
by Homer (directions, ocean currents, blowing of the wind, days of
traveling ...) she finds a possible route of this world tour.
*This is not a project that culminates into a simple, nice, easy to
understand climactic moment. I think it can be much more than that. I think
it can take on a mythological quality of its own.
L.H. Grant*
Since 800 BC transportation system has developed from taking the sea-routes
and the use of various means of transport. Several works reinterpret the
journey and stations of Odysseus in a contemporary way. Artists of our
century were also inspired by thoughts of changing distances and
significance of locations, an outstanding example is Walter Grond in his
"Absolut Homer".
In 1992 Walter Grond created an enormous piece of concept-art in the field
of literature. Using Christine Pellech=92s theory of Odysseus journey as a
Phoenician world tour as starting point, he encouraged young authors to
visit the locations of The Odyssey between Sinai and the Lofotes, the
Niagara falls and Tierra del Fuego, Australia, India and Arabia. The result
is a contemporary literary work of traveling impressions.
"He saw the cities of many men, and he knew their thought"
I couldn't help but see the journey of Odysseus as one of traveling from
Vienna and then out to the cities/stages of the world. A different story in
each city.
Dan Zellner*
Furthermore this journey constitutes an excellent metaphor for illustrating
the theory of acceleration, the shrinking of the world to a global village.
Instead of traveling along the sea-routes, Odysseus will go along the lines
of the Internet.
*Big tnx for these amazing thoughts. From the technical point of view:
Everything is possible, it's just a question of money, time and bandwidth.
Rainer Fuegenstein *
40 the play and its structure
The form of the play is influenced by the form of ancient Greek tragedies.
The seven Epeisodia, i.e. the scenes, are framed by Stasimas, the songs of
the choros. Each Epeisodion stages one of the stories Odysseus has to go
through on the different stations of his journey, taken out of Homer=92s Epo=
s
"The Odyssey". Odysseus travels to the island of Cyclops, where he meets
cruel Polyphem, the Island of Aeolus, lord of the winds, the Island of
Aeaea, home of beautiful Circe, he even arrives in Hades till he rests for
some years on Ogyia, the Island of Calypso, before he returns to Ithaca.
Each Actor will speak in his mother tongue. The interaction between the
stages in different parts of the world will produce multilingual dialogs.
The Stasimas between the scenes are sung in Greek.
*should the play be performed by each actor on his/her native languaje?=20
Santiago Pereson*
*the world does NOT speak in English... I think there are more than a
hundred live languages on it... that's what 'worldwide' would mean to me!
Santiago Pereson*
The actor playing Odysseus is traveling virtually from stage to stage, from
city to city, from venue to venue, depending on where the certain
Epeisodion takes place. In every Epeisodion another audience in another
country can see a real actor playing Odysseus. On the other stages the real
actor is represented by a light cone.=20
Right now, as I see it, what would an live audience member see? An actor on
a stage reacting to lights and sound. Is the Internet necessary for this?
Dan Zellner=20
People on every stage will have the possibility to watch the performance at
the same time. They will see real actors interact with virtual ones,
hearing the words of Homer.
Besides participating in one of the theaters there will be the possibility
to access the performance via Internet. This gives the opportunity to not
only see the ongoings on the stages but also take an active part in the
performance. Each Epeisodion is framed by a Stasima, a part sung by the
choros. The choros in the tragedy represented the people. In Oudeis the
choros will represent the audience who follows the play on computer
screens. There is a special opportunity for this audience that is connected
via World Wide Web to interact and comment on the play.=20
*if you think "music is dressed silence", then any sound can be music, and
the quality is part of the timbre of the sound.=20
Santiago Pereson *
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 broadcast this
sound on every 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
Internet.
I would worry if there is no concentration on the audience, for without an
audience is there really a performance?=20
Nina LeNoir=20
50 why to do a prototype
80 time
*TwylaM-S says, "I really think that it is. It's slated for next spring, I
think."
SantiagoP says "autumn here..." Talk at ATHEMOO*
90 technique
Life is blown into the lightcones by an idea revolutionary to theater. It
will be the first time that what an actor really feels while playing is
shown. Acting never shows the real emotions of an actor but the emotions of
the character he or she is playing. Do the actors of Odysseus and his
companions really fear for their lives while being together with cruel
Polyphem on stage? No, certainly not. An audience member is never able to
see what the actor of Odysseus really concentrates on in a certain moment.
*how do you show a real actor making love with a virtual actor or even more
problematic, a virtual actor making love with another virtual actor?
L.H. Grant*
The use of special sensor technique that the actors are carrying will show
these emotions normally hidden. The data gathered from these sensors is
transformed into light information conferring colors and intensity. The
positions of the actors are palpate via the light system of the stage. All
this information is transported via the Internet to the other stages and
produces the virtual actors there. For sure the performance will look
different on every evening, because the virtual actors, as a visualization
of the real actors, are really living and feeling human beings, and not
preprogrammed light variations.
*i think virtual actors should not be light cones but virtual actors. more
than a beam of light should be within them.
Santiago Pereson*
Each venue will have a stage in the size of 8m x 8m, a 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 additional visual material there will be also some screens in
the back.
Although, as for speaking to a light, why not have the gods reside in a
certain place all together, sort of a Mt. Olympus?=20
Kinch Glisson
On every stage, the interaction between virtual and real actors is seen.
The dialog is broadcast via speakers. Furthermore the visualization and the
sound of all actors will be available via World Wide Web synchronously.
work in progress (the project DOES already exist)
The history of theater that makes use of the Internet is comparatively
short. Since 1993, where the first theater performance in IRC (an Internet
chat environment) took place, the theater scene in the Net is growing. Even
a focus group of ATHE (the Association of Theater in Higher Education) that
deals with the use of Technology in Theater and Education, is now being
formed and has invited the Oudeis team to present their work on their
yearly conference. Great international attention is now drawn on this
project.=20
*Long live Oudeis!
L.H. Grant*
To document the ongoing progress in the collaborative work of the Oudeis
team a monthly newspaper called =84Status Quo" was established in Summer
1996. It is available via World Wide Web where it can also be downloaded as
a printed version. Since its first edition it is growing steadily and is
now documenting not only the development of the Oudeis project but also
presenting other projects currently staged with the use of the Internet all
around the world.
goal -> 8 stages
The map of Odysseus=92 world tour will be redrawn to a world tour appropriat=
e
for the 20th century. From Europe Odysseus goes to Illinois, south to
Argentina and Brazil rounding the earth to Australia and is going north
again to Asia. The eighth stage is the stage found in the World Wide Web,
accessible from every computer all around the world that is hooked on to
the Internet.
Oudeis - a world wide odyssey will be seen on seven stages all around the
world. On every stage a real actor will not only perform but will interact
with his virtual opponents coming from the stages that are combined by the
lines of the Internet. Besides watching this performance in one of the
theaters there will be the possibility to access the performance via
Internet. This gives the audience the opportunity to not only see the
ongoings on the stages but also take an active part in the performance.
quoted:
Australian Composer and Performer Andrew Garton
American playwright and producer Dan Zellner
American playwright L.H. Grant
Austrian Network specialist Rainer Fuegenstein
Argentinean composer Santiago Pereson
assistant professor of theatre, director, Texas, Nina LeNoir=20
actor, Kinch Glisson
Boris Karnikowski
to look on:
http://www.oudeis.org/status/
---------------------------------- alles Theater -------------
Monika Wunderer mailto:wunderer@oudeis.org
phone: ++ 43 (1) 892 35 20
http://st1hobel.phl.univie.ac.at/~wunderer/
http://www.oudeis.org
telnet://moo.hawaii.edu:9999