CANCELLED! unfortunately I am unable to come to the convention :( And I didn't finish the installation in time :( When it is done (soon I hope) it will be announced on the pd-lists

Gerard van Dongen

Concept

The setting is a "city" at night, the initial questions all deal with the night time, what it is, the quiet of, the escape into, dreams, loneliness, sharing a bed noise, etc....

On screen there is a stylized city-scape (done in GEM) that you can move through with the joystick. You can enter a couple of different "rooms" where the spectator is invited to respond to questions and leave questions/answers/memorabilia behind.

Questions can be text on screen or recorded voices. Input is through typing, speaking in the microphone, and snapshots made with the web-cam.

The audience is invited to become a "player" by small tempting movements made by the force-feedback joystick combined with some projected text ("spiel mich" etc.) When the web-cam detects a person standing in front the installation goes to "play/question"-mode. Some questions are asking for further questions (what do you want to ask the next player?).

Input will change the space.

Text will be floating around/projected on walls.

Images will be portraits in rooms.

Words will become questions.

Background information:

The purpose of the installation for me, is to gather material. The user input will be saved and send to me if possible. I am developing a theater/performance piece about a meta-night-club about the night, based on interviews I have done and questions I want to ask. So far I have made a sound-documentary (in Dutch: http://www.hetlokaal.nl/hoorspel/media/nacht.mp3) and am working on a website. http://www.denachtin.com This site is also my web-programming art-playground, so it may or may not work on your browser, it will change often and is unreliable :)

These two things are based on material I gathered in interviews I recorded with different artists in Rotterdam. This installation is a continuation of this process of looking for and creating "found material". I will also show the installation in Rotterdam (and where ever else people are interested :) )

Another development is the use of images/text in my music performances. The installation is also meant as a source of material for that.