Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 Application Cover Sheet Deadline 29/07/02 Shooting live Artists Project title Chiasma Brief summary (no more than 50 words) Chiasma is a collaboration between three international arts organizations: Folly (Lancaster, UK), Grunt (Vancouver, Canada) and Imperial Slacks (Sydney, Australia). Three live artists (one from each country) will be commissioned to create a piece of work for live web transmission. Chiasma will utilize chat interfaces, live web streaming technology and city-scape projections, to investigate the potential of virtual exchange and collaboration. Applicant / Organization name Folly Contact name Lora Yeates / Taylor Nuttall Address for correspondence 26 Castle Park, Lancaster, LA1 1YQ, UK Telephone (01524)388550 Fax n/a Minicom n/a E-mail development@folly.co.uk / director@folly.co.uk Key personnel Lora Yeates / Taylor Nuttall - Folly Start and finish dates of funded activity February 2003 - April 2003 Your regional office is? Lancaster, UK Total sum requested £10, 018 Account for cheques to be made payable Folly How is your organization funded? Arts Council Regional office Private Sector • • • How is your organization constituted? Partnership Charity Company limited by guarantee • • • Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 Local Authority Trust/charity Other • • Sole trader Trust Other • • Production Post production Declaration I declare that the information contained in this application is correct. I undertake to inform the Arts Council immediately of any changes of artistic, administrative and financial composition of the project. Signature Date Supporting Material (Please give details of medium, dimensions, platform, duration, etc.) No. 1 2 3 4 5 Name Folly Grunt Imperial Slacks Computing Department Hester Reeve / Grunt / Folly Title/Description Organization Web Site Organization Web Site Organization Web Site Lancaster University Web Site LIVE: Biennial of Performance Art Vancouver Canada Format www.folly.co.uk www.grunt.bc.ca www.imperialslacks.com http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/ www.livevancouver.bc.ca Please continue on a separate sheet if necessary Please attach a brief CV, a proposal covering the categories outlined below and detailed in the guidelines, a cover sheet and an equal opportunities statement: Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 • Describe your proposed project (Maximum 1000 words) 'Chiasma' Chiasma: an exploration of the intersection or 'crossing' of the physical, 'rooted' body with the phenomenal body, as experienced through the intertwining of multiple virtual 'sites' and 'scapes'; it interrogates the interaction of the visual, the tangible and the intelligible, in the enactment and reception of live performance art. The medium of the web-cast allows for the transmission of these experiences and provides access to a new experimental domain for live performance art. Chiasma will consist of three participating arts organizations: Folly (UK) and Grunt (Canada) and Imperial Slacks (Australia). Each organization will commission a lead artist currently practicing in live art (Hester Reeve, Rebecca Belmore, Lea Donnan). The project will be divided into three interlinked activities: 1. Artists' Research Period: The three commissioned artists will chair an open access, online 'chat': this discussion will be given the agenda of exploring the future potential of incorporating web technologies with live art performance and the future of online, international exchange and partnerships. We will utilize the BBCi web site to promote this discussion and to host the event: this will ensure that a wide-ranging, international audience will be given the opportunity to take part. In response to this dialogue, the three artists will be given a month to devise a piece of work specifically intended for web transmission - potentially engaging with the following questions: where to and how does the body of the performer orient itself, temporally and spatially in the 'time' of the performance? How does the knowledge that her body is being projected onto the net and into a different country's cityscape affect the artists' use of her body while performing? What does it mean to lack a physical audience but to gain a virtual / interactive audience? 2. Live Web Streamed Event: One month after the initial online chat, each artist will be scheduled to perform in her host venue and her performance will then be web streamed live. There will be three different performances, on three consecutive evenings: one from Australia, Canada and England. Individuals will have to log on and watch the live web cast on the BBCi web site or alternatively, physically visit the live, outdoor projections taking place in Lancaster, Sydney and Vancouver city centers. An open access text dialogue box will run alongside of the online performance image on screen, encouraging audience discussion while the performance is taking place. There will also be three smaller image boxes appearing at the bottom of the screen showing a live image of Lancaster, Sydney and Vancouver city centres: to draw the audience attention to the simultaneous city projections and 'live-ness' of the event. 3. Cityscape Projection: Each performance will simultaneously be projected into three separate city centers during its online transmission: Vancouver, Sydney and Lancaster. There will also be a series of laptop computers located on site for passerby's to stop and engage with the online dialogue. )over Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 The projected cityscape performance will present the spectator with the virtual artists' body, interacting with concrete, physical space - yet from a different dimension, location and time zone. This public projection will literally be transporting a Canadian artist into a British and Australian space and vice versa: opening up the potential for these artists to engage with new international audiences, explore foreign cityscapes and the multi-layered possibilities of virtual exchange. Time Frame: We anticipate the online discussion will take place mid to late February 2003. The live performances will be set to coincide with the b.tv festival in Sheffield scheduled for late March / early April 2003. Location: The online chat and webcast transmissions will be hosted through the BBCi web site. The city projections will take place in Lancaster city centre, Vancouver city centre and Sydney city centre. We also hope to explore the possibility of having a live projection at the Site Gallery in Sheffield during the b.tv festival and a series of computers based there for the festival audience to directly engage with the online dialogue. There is also potential to approach other new media organizations (i.e. UK: Baltic, FACT, ICA, Cornerhouse, New Media Centre - Huddersfield, Glasgow Centre of Contemporary Arts, Watershed) to place computers in their spaces for audiences to engage with the 'chat' during online transmission. Technical Support: We have secured the support of the Lancaster University's Computing Department to technically realize this project. Please refer to the technological and methodology section of this application, for further details. Funding: All three organizations will secure funding independently of one another, to support their one third of the total cost of the overall project. Artists: All three organizations have already approached artists to work with them on this project. Please refer to accompanying CV's and documentation. Motivation: In October of 2001, Folly (UK) collaborated with Grunt (Canada) to host a live web transmission of Hester Reeve's performance "2001: Space Oddessy, an Excavation of Truth" as a part of LIVE: Vancouver Biennial of Live Art (www. livevancouver.bc.ca). This experience raised questions for curators in both organizations: is there a future for curating live art, specifically intended for the net and net audiences? What is the potential for reaching new audiences through this medium? What does it mean for live artists to create work for a virtual environment? This project also raised new unforeseen considerations for the artist - performer: "The web cam, far from being a cold recording instrument set up 'outside' the piece, acted as a sympathetic co-performer both seducing and affirming my live process. There was no physical audience in the room but the attentiveness of the web cam and its very particular promise to expose my ideas out through space afforded a new power in my work; I felt freer to experiment with the live medium. I had not expected this." - Hester Reeve, 2002. Folly is a rapidly developing new media art organization based in the North West. We welcome the chance to further extend our already burgeoning international profile. This fund affords us the invaluable occasion to work with two well-respected arts organizations from Australia and Canada as well as realize an exciting and technologically challenging concept. All three organizations also recognize the momentous opportunity that we will be afforded to us by gaining exposure on the BBCi web site and at the b.tv festivals in November and March of 2003. Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 i21 Outline the technical treatment and methodology for the realization of the project (Max 1000 words) Summary: Note: technical terminology has been kept to a minimum The technical treatment for this project can be separated out into 3 distinct parts: 1) Activity by each host that is collected and turned into streaming media and distributed via the Internet. 2) Online communication systems between all 3 partners and potential audience. 3) Presentation via either web interface - or at a physical location. Whereas the methodology of the project is concerned with the seamless integration of the above leading to the potential of the interface to bring about new audience and creative experiences. Detail 1) Activity by each host that is collected and turned into streaming media and distributed via the Internet. Performance activity will be captured using digital video camera and microphone (ideally a back up system will be used to provide supporting documentary material). Appropriate rigging will need to be built in the local space to support and fix the equipment, this will be also need to be tested to ensure that lighting, video signal and audio signals meet the requirements of the live broadcast. A reasonably well specified computer fitted with a video capture card and audio card will collect the video and audio feed as a live signal. In turn software such as Real Media will convert these signals into a live video stream and transmitted to an agreed remote streaming server. To achieve this the host will require a high capacity Internet connection that allows upload of large quantities of data, and is not prone to connection loss or other network lag problems. 3) Online communication systems between all 3 partners and potential audience. For the duration of each performance (and during testing - lead up to live broadcast) Online chat forums will be used to allow the 3 geographically distant locations to maintain good communications about the project. Whilst the potential for audience participation is a key to the project - partners may wish for a secondary private channel to be used for technical support issues. There are several technologies that we can select to support this process. Ideally we wish to maintain a log of all communication for documentation purposes. Access to the chat forum should be available to all regardless of Internet connection, computer hardware, software preferences etc. The chat forum should be based on instant chat solutions rather than a notice board. It may be beneficial to collect some raw data about users of the chat forum, but is not a paramount necessity. Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 Warnings and disclaimers will need to be considered and if directly referenced from the BBC website may need to meet appropriate guidelines. 4) Presentation via either web interface - or at a physical location. Ideally both the streaming media and the chat channel should be accessible from the same web interface. Any logging in (possibly as a guest?) should happen before this combine interface is reached. Technical support personnel will need to be able to access these separate elements without going through the web interface. The video / audio stream signal will be accessed by a second reasonably specified computer with audio card, and possibly wireless LAN card (which is our intention in Lancaster). The second computer will be securely mounted in a weather proof location with access to a reliable power supply and connected to a high powered data projector (6000 lumens). The computer will need to be able to access a reliable high capacity Internet connection and subsequently the remote streaming server to receive the live streamed video / audio signal. Ideally there will be further laptop computers similarly set up for public / technical support access to both the web interface. Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 What is the target audience and how is this accessed in the proposed project? Chiasma aims to actively engage with both Intentional' and Incidental' audiences. Intentional audiences being those who come to a piece of work with prior knowledge of the artists or of the organization and with prior knowledge of the vocabularies of contemporary art. And incidental audiences being those who encounter the work for any number of reasons without bringing to it the same kind of vocabularies that an informed constituency would do.i We intend to extend the circle of traditional gallery / live art spectators by stimulating the interaction of pedestrians in the city centres and internet users on the web. This objective is focused on dissolving barriers to inclusivity that still influence the constitution of art audiences, even for the most accessible projects. One of the main factors of exclusivity is in the cultural habitus of the art audience members themselves; by 'placing' the live art in 'unusual' settings, the project looks to engage with potential audiences who do not necessarily have the same background or knowledge of the medium that most regular art audience members have acquired. The city centre projections in Lancaster, Sydney and Vancouver will also ensure that the project is seen by a large portion of the community would not otherwise engage with such an artform. As Chiasma is an internet based project, having it hosted on the BBCi site will massively increase our chances of attracting a wide range of participants: as it is one of the most regularly hit sites in Europe, if not worldwide. Each organization will also advertise the event in a variety of regularly read arts publications in their own country (i.e. UK: printed publications such as Art Monthly and AN as well as in e-groups such as the Live Art newsgroup, Folly e-newsletter, New Work Network, ArtsAdmin Rhizome and Spectre). Publicity leaflets will also be produced to distribute to other arts organizations and mail groups. Each organization will also approach other new media centres in the UK, Australia and Canada to set up series of publicly accessible computers in their spaces for the live online 'chat' and performance transmissions (i.e. UK: Baltic, FACT, ICA, Comerhouse, New Media Centre - Huddersfield, Glasgow Centre of Contemporary Arts, Watershed). 1 James Lingwood in The Producers: Contemporary Curation in Conversation (Baltic, 2000). Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 LL A schedule for the project including proposed facilities where appropriate February (early) 2003 February (late) 2003 March (early) March (late) / April (early) 2003 May 2003 - technological testing between BBCi, Lancaster, Australia and Canada - online discussion, chaired by all three commissioned artists - further testing for link-ups between the three countries - three consecutive days of live performance - documentation Q A statement on copyright of material and licensing which agrees to a version being premiered on BBC online and subsequently exhibited for up to two years Folly grant the BBC a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, sublicenseable right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, create derivative works from, distribute, perform, play, and exercise all copyright and publicity rights with respect to Chiasma worldwide and/or to incorporate it in other works in any media now known or later developed for the full term of any rights that may exist in such content, consistent with privacy restrictions set forth in the BBC's Privacy Policy. We also warrant that such contribution is; a. b. c. original work and that you have the right to make it available to the BBC for all the purposes specified above; is not defamatory; and does not infringe any law. We grant the BBC indemnify against all legal fees, damages and other expenses that may be incurred by the BBC as a result of your breach of the above warranty; and Agree to waive any moral rights in your contribution for the purposes of its submission to and publication on the BBC site and the other purposes specified above. Folly agree to a version of Chiasma being premiered on BBC online and subsequently exhibited for up to two years. Cover Sheet for Applicants 2002-2003 A budget which includes a detailed breakdown of income and expenditure * Each organization / country will be locating one third of the overall project costs independently of one another. These costs listed below are for the UK section of the project only. Expenditure Production Costs: Artist fee Video Card Sound Card Wavelength Card Media Streaming Software Media Streaming Account Web Camera Microphone Digital Video Tapes Hire of 6000 lumin data projector (with in kind support) Insurance - Projector 1 technical support person @ 50 hrs £28.50 p/h Travel Expenses Cost £1500 £500 £120 £120 £300 £300 £70 £100 £100 £1000 £500 £1425 £75 Post - Production Costs: Documentation £100 Project Management & Overheads: Project Manager /10 days @ £150 p/d Admin Support 12 days @ £85 p/d Phone, fax, e-mail £1500 £170 £50 Publicity Costs: ~~~~ ~~ Two color leaflets @ 5000 print run (quoted by Badger Press) Advertising Costs Postage £288 £1500 £300 Income Distributed Multimedia Research Group secured Distributed Multimedia Research Group secured Folly - secured Folly - secured Folly - secured Folly - secured Blitz Vision - to be secured ] 2 technical support personnel @ 50 hrs per person £28.50 p/h Wireless equipment £2850 Digital Camera hire @ £10 p/d (1 week) Digital Video Camera hire @ £22 p/d (1 week) 2 x Computers hire @ £99 p/w (2 weeks) High Ram (256 mb) Speed 1Ghz Graphics Card Additional Project Management Time In kind data projector hire costs £70 £154 £198 £3000 £800 £3282 Total Cost £20,372 Total Income £10,354 Total requested from Shooting Live [ £10,018