Have an online presentation that parallels our face-to-face
presentations, so that people who would like to participate but who
cannot make it to Freiburg can have access to papers, some
discussion,
and even a live show.
The online presence must be available well in advance of the
conference--like a month or two. People need to test their
connections, adjust their equipment, establish relationships with
online helpers and listservs in several languages, and practice
their
computer skills before going onto the MOO.
A word about time (not the last). As Santiago has reminded us,
James
Joyce is part of the Odyssey tradition. Joyce said once that he had
spent 10 years writing Ulysses and that he sought a reader who
would
spend 10 years reading it. Since this is the same 10 years Odysseus
spent coming home from the 10 year bloody war in Troy, I feel
comfortable in suggesting 10 years as a time-frame for creating
Oudeis-
-that's before it goes on the road. A year for getting a
multi-lingual
theater network that is capable of extraordinary growth seems short
to
me. It might well take longer.
1. Pre-performance (CW98?)
Premise is that most people, even academics, don't know much
about the Odyssey or even Homer and are probably out of touch
with how archeological and anthropological evidence has
changed
our concepts about what was going on in the Mediterranean area
around the time of the Trojan War. They think they are going
to
learn something about computer technology, and they will, but
that is just the beginning.
Set up a multi-lingual listserv with seed material and support
in
Spanish, German, and English (Portuguese? Russian? Japanese?
Indian?) for background information, for discovery of new
ideas,
and for discussion of manifold issues--technical, scholarly,
pedagogical, and cultural. Open-ended. Linked easily to more
specialized discussions.
Seven MOO spaces ready (6 already exist) with descriptions of
the
rooms and with bots and guestbooks and some 'how to make it
work'
information. These will include links out to the Web page and
will enable guests to peruse vrml files, .wavs and .ras,
Shockwaves and whatever else we have ready. Drawings,
photographs, video clips--whatever else we can get up there
should be availble with schedules and email addresses of
people
who can help guests get started. I can see several bot making
workshops here, beginning with the Oudeis team. A work party.
Learn some programming. Get comfy in MOOland.
This is where we 'virtualize' the final project. Everything is
described in words. We have light cones, virtual actors, T1
line
objects, different approaches to sets and costumes
(multilingual
sets and costumes), and virtualized venues. I unthinkingly
called
this an 'installation' approach and it touched off a
convulsion
of hostility on ideas. This may come from the kind of thing
where
the artist nails up a pair of socks with a lengthy
pronouncement
about the cosmic significance and passes this off as art. I
personally think Andy Warhol deserves a lot of credit for this
kind of fraud in the 20th Century, but Marcel Duchamps has
also
been named.
In any case, it is not what I had in mind. I see half a dozen
different basic settings in the Odyssey. Olympus. The Sea.
Ithaca. The Land of Ghosts, Phaiakia, like that. Maybe there
could be two called the sea or the sea and the Islands.
And I imagine venues like the Museum of Anthropology at UBC or
the Cafe Stein/Station Manor a live opera house. Each venu is
dressed up as one of the principal settings. So maybe a
gallery
in Honolulu is decked out as the sea and Phaiakia. A small
lecture theater at the University of Chicago becomes Olympia.
A
drinking place in Adelaide gives Calypso's Isle a go. And Hell
is
New York City in the winter. Something like that.
Kulchur is spectacular, but culture is environmental. The
place
where the spectacle occurs is saturated with centuries of
unconscious sloughing off. The responsiblity of each venue is
to
2. Freiburg
This is a MOO performance *only* and in three (or possibly
more)
languages. I see the languages being done by separate MOOs
which
the Guest can select either on the Web page or the the MOOs'
opening screen.
Recruit participants and book shows. If this conference has
representatives from business, approach them as potential
sponsors. Looking for book publisher, documentary film maker,
video producer, recording studio, arranger/composer, writer,
synthesist, actors.
3. Post-performance
The Web page to remain in place for the period from June till
the
end of September. Includes links to listservs and MOOs where
the
action will be. Discussion of ideas for class, testing of
connections *and* assumptions, prep for
4. October
Three shows. Three different endings. Three times of day. A
week
apart. Party after. Special student rates.
a. Endings
1. 1. Odysseus is accidentally killed in Ithaca by the
Yellow Priestess of Ariadne. This is a very thinly
disguised 'traditional ending.' Shepherd and
Nursemaid
welcome. Odysseus' dog. Traditional tragedy.
2. 2. Odysseus loses his way again and falls in with a
band of wandering Grizzly bears. The adults want to
eat
him, but the kids think he is a toy. So he is
allowed
to live. Surreasistic adolescent adventures.
3. 3. Many people will experience this as the
Traditional
Ending because Odysseus is reunited with his beloved
Penelope. But he soon realizes that she had a little
thing with each of the Suitors--now deceased, and is
awash in grief. This one looks at the aftermath of
Odysseus' successful return from the eyes of the
wife
and the cleaning lady (is this one character or
two?)
Very rrepresentational, naturalistic, Ibsenesque.
-- Jim Terral South Slocan, BC http://www.netidea.com/~jterral/ http://moo.hawaii.edu/athemoo/WebMOO.html