Trend: Mobile Phone Performances

Mobile phones give public space another dimension by adding a layer of communication and sound which innovative artists are turning into performance art.

Trend Description:
Agoraphobia is the english adoption of the words agora and phobia and describes the fear of public spaces, the fear of situations associated with these spaces: situations, scenes, sounds – traffic, people, crowds, radio, commercials, street musicians, and today ringing cell phones, a public nuisance on the one hand, another layer of communication on the other. Wireless phone calls, text- and sometimes even video-messaging are a big part of the communication which takes place in public spaces. This communication itself – and the way we receive it is being turned into performance art by innovative artists utilizing mobile phones as a means and an end to their artistic endeavors.

Cases:

AGORA II
Inspired by the large abandoned space of McCarren pool in Williamsburg Brooklyn, one of ten enormous pools built by the City of New York in 1936 to provide recreation and divert people’s minds from the economy, choreographer Noémie Lafrance started developing a dance piece in 2005.

The site-specific performance, called AGORA, featured up to 60 dancers, plus participating audience. Starting with one single woman, during the performance the 50,000 sqare foot pool filled with dancers, people and different stories until it was reminiscent of a big circus, a pool full of hopes and dreams. The idea of the performance was to play with the perception of the space. It might help to know that agoraphobia is the fear of tall buildings, of large, empty spaces, of public, and of leaving home.

The Canadian born choreographer this year also invites people to not only bring their bodies to the performance, but also their cell phones – to be able to communicate. After all “AGORA” also used to be the physical space where all Athenian citizens gathered to do their business, participate in politics and justice, and express their opinions. According to the press release “AGORA II” will continue the original AGORA by investigating the role of public space in contemporary urban life. A cast of hundreds of performers and guest performers as well as the audience and their cell phones will be part of that, incorporated into AGORA II by a “choreographic game for one thousand bodies”. One of the methods is the experiment to send SMS-clues to the participating audience, which is supposed to move in formations according to the clues, simulating pedestrian traffic, spirals, waves and other shapes moving around the pool, interacting with the core group of characters and the cameo appearance by guest artists – “creating a grand tableau – a city slice – a social experiment.” “This will really be a big experiment”, Grace Park told CScout. And what about incorporating ring tones? “Maybe next year”, she replied laughing. This year there will be a professional score plus live sound.

See more information for the timing, price and location of the performance below.

Dialtones
Dialtones was a large-scale concert performance at the Ars Electronica Festival, produced by the choreographed dialing and ringing of the audience’s own mobile phones. In preparation for the so called telesymphony, the audience had to register their wireless telephone numbers at Web kiosks. In exchange for this information, the participants received seating assignment tickets, and new “ring tones” which were automatically downloaded to their handsets. During the concert a small group of musicians dialed the phones en mass with specially designed, visual-musical software instrument.

The Best of Blue Tones
The legendary jazz label Blue Note Records has begun releasing ring tunes featuring riffs from classic recordings by legendary artists including Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock, Art Blakey and Chet Baker. It is the first time that tracks like this have been made available for the mobile platform. About 25 different tones are starting to be made available to major carriers in the US and will be made available internationally shortly as part of the “The Best of Blue Tones” program.

Trend Impact:
People love their mobile phones and they love their ring tones. Mobile phones surround us wherever we go – and now we can expect to see and hear more about them – not just in the gadget news but integrated in performance art.

Sensproduction – AGORA II

Blue Note

Dialtone

Open Rehearsal for AGORA II (8/18/06 6pm): Live Audience Experimentation – RSVP production@sensproduction.org

Performance Dates
Wed – Sat Sept 13-16, 20-23 and 27-30 8:00PM
Please arrive a half hour before show time for seating and wear comfortable shoes!
Tickets: Player $20 / Viewer $30 available online soon at www.sensproduction.org
To reserve advance tickets by phone: 718-388-6309

Where
The Historic McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint/Williamsburg, Brooklyn (Main arch entrance)
(Lorimer st. between Driggs & Bayard) Take L train to Lorimer or Bedford; G train to Metropolitan.

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