Norie Neumark, Maria Miranda, Greg Turner: Séance: A Networked Glossalalia

Title:

Séance: A Networked Glossalalia

Artist(s) and People Involved:

Performers:



• Norie Neumark
• Maria Miranda
• Greg Turner

Symposium:

• ISEA2004: 12th International Symposium on Electronic Art

Artist Statement:

During Séance, the e.motions relaying between a local event and remote players will be made audible using the traditional Ouija Board, which was also known as a Message Board. Bring your own laptop to participate in the event. In the 19th century Etienne-Jules Marey, Henri Bergson and Marie Curie met to investigate “the manifestations of yet undefined forces” through scientific investigations. These investigations attempted to measure the radioactivity and electric discharge of hysterics; to study telepathy and levitation; and to hold Seaces.

Séance, following these earlier experiments, is based on the popular parlour game from the 19th century. The original Ouija Board was also known as the ‘Talking Board’ or the ‘Message Board’, and was used to seek answers from the spirit world. The modern equivalent of this ‘searching for answers’ could be imagined to be Google – or any search engine for that matter. Are there ‘unknown forces’ still at play? What happens when answers depend on a network of movement? In this networked performance multiple players ask questions of the Board and their combined mouse movements, playing in real time, generate a cacophony of alphabetical answers. The result is a sort of networked glossalalia – an audio representation of the perpetual e.motion in the network.

Category:

• Performances