2008
Jamie O’Shea and I originally offered a joint workshop in Iowa City as part of our Roadtrip Skill Share Program. A workshop that was equal parts: hacking battery-run toys and turning them into music instruments; collection of footage for analogue support, props and costumes and; a performance for spectacle.
Bend It Shake It
Jamie O’Shea and I originally offered a joint workshop in Iowa City as part of our Roadtrip Skill Share Program. A workshop that was equal parts: hacking battery-run toys and turning them into music instruments; collection of footage for analogue support, props and costumes and; a performance for spectacle.
We had a minimal budget and had to do with whatever was available on site. The aim was to play, screw and turn and challenge the standard idea of musical performance. For the grand finale we got dressed up with footage from the gutters, armed with home-made instant experience frames -hand-held and on stands - and took the *instruments* to the nearest cornfield and placed ourselves against the highway and the setting sun.
It was a slightly psychedelic event, with magical outcomes created in an instant. The experience was almost transcending in terms of community and making a countercultural dream come true: empowered individualism, collaborative community, and spiritual communion, yeah!
This Workshop/performance concept has been replayed in NYC during Eyebeam's annual Holdiday Hackshop in 2008.
This Workshop/performance concept has been replayed in NYC during Eyebeam's annual Holdiday Hackshop in 2008.