workshops
Troika Ranch offers a wide-array of workshop experiences. Some are designed as residency activities linked to our performances, others as standalone events that allow us to share our broad experience as creators of interactive performance. If you are interested in bringing us to your institition to teach a workshop, please contact us.
LIVE-I WORKSHOP
"Composition for Media and The Stage"
13 - 24 June 2011Portland, Oregon
Fee: $1,000Hours & Place TBA
Applications due by 13 May, 2011
(For information on Portland housing, transportation and more, click here.)
Troika Ranch's Live-I Workshop is an intensive workshop for artists who wish to develop their ability to realize media intensive works for the stage. Each day, Troika Ranch Artistic Directors Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello will introduce a new compositional problem revolving around the integration of media and live performance, discuss various strategies and approaches towards the problem, and, send the students off to creatively address that problem through the creation of a short study.
Topics to be covered include:
* Effectively integrating live performers and video imagery on stage
* Using live video/audio feeds to amplify or re-contextualize the performer, and the themes
* Applying notions of film grammar to on-stage imagery
* The use of reactive/interactive systems as an intensifier of liveness
* Considering alternative projection surfaces and/or materials
The trajectory of the exercises is designed so that the outcomes can be woven together into a longer study, which the students will present to the other participants and a small invited public at the workshop's conclusion.
Throughout the workshop, students will be introduced to Isadora® -- the user-friendly, real-time media manipulation tool created by Mark Coniglio. Instead of an exhaustive approach, which might overwhelm those new to such a tool, the focus will be on introducing key features that allow the students to address the compositional problem at hand. In so doing, the students will leave with a basic, solid knowledge of the software that can be put into practice immediately.
Coniglio and Stoppiello will work with the students from 10am to 4pm each day.
Troika Ranch artistic directors Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello taught their Live-I Workshop annually in NYC from 1999 - 2009. Starting in 2010, Portland, OR became the location for these annual workshops. The Live-I (Live-Interactive) Workshop is an intensive seminar designed for performance-based artists to explore the use of interactive computer technology in the creation and performance of live artworks. Using technological tools and techniques developed by Troika Ranch over the past 20 years, the participants learn to use their movements and vocalizations to interactively control computer based media, such as sound synthesizers, video playback devices and theatrical lighting in a performance or installation setting.
Isadora® is being used by hundreds of artists worldwide including the Royal Shakespeare Company, Mort Subotnick, Rosemary Lee, Three Legged Dog, Christopher Kondek, Maya Ciarrocchi (for Bebe Miller and Merce Cunningham), VJ Solu, Lingo Dance Theater, Gretchen Schiller, Hans Tutschku and others.
Application Procedure
Applications due by 13 May, 2011 (please do not apply before April 1, 2011).
Send applications to info [at] troikaranch [dot] org
NOTE: If we do not receive at least ten applications then we may choose to cancel this workshop and would do so by May 27, 2011.
Include one paragraph explaining why you are interested in attending the workshop and one paragraph describing the kind of work that you make. You should also briefly tell us about your level of expertise with computers, and whether or not you will be able to bring your own laptop and/or digital video camera Please include your name, address, telephone number and email address.
Applicants must have a basic understanding of using a computer, i.e., opening and saving files, copying and pasting information, basic navigational skills, etc. Aplicants must also have gone through the Isadora tutorials 1-6 before the workshop begins.
A Note About the Selection Process: Please know that, beyond your application information, an important factor in choosing the participants is how the group fits together as a whole. When the skills of those participating vary too widely, it means that someone ends up either bored or overwhelmed. So please understand that if you are not chosen it is not a reflection on your abilities or your skills as an artist.
Required Equipment
Computers: We generally require that you bring your own Mac or PC laptop. (See the hardware requirements below.) We have a limited number of computers for use by the workshop participants; if you need a computer please let us know in advance. Those bringing their own computers may be required to share with another participant.
Macintosh Requirements: Intel based computer with a bus speed of 1.8 Ghz and 2.0 GB of RAM; Mac OS X 10.4.0 or greater; QuickTime 7.0 or greater must be installed. (G4/G5 computers will work, but they do not perform nearly as well as the Intel machines.)
Windows Requirements: Intel based computer with a bus speed of 1.8 Ghz and 2.0 GB of RAM; Windows 7, Vista or XP; QuickTime 7.0 or greater must be installed.
Video Camera: Some means of capturing live video is required. The best option is a Digital Video (DV) camera with a FireWire output. (Make sure you have the required cable to connect it to your computer.) A second option is to purchase a composite video-to-USB adapter like the Daystar Technology XLR8 Interview (Mac) or the Pinnacle Dazzle DVC-100 (Windows). A third option is to use a web cam, either an external USB model or the one that is built-in to your laptop; this option offers the least flexibility however.Microphone: For those whose computers do not have an integrated internal microphone, an external microphone compatible with the microphone input of your computer is also recommended.
Sensory Systems: Users may also bring MIDI input devices or other sensory systems if they have prior skill in connecting and using those systems with their computer. Isadora can receive input from MIDI and Serial devices as well as software that supports the Open Sound Control (OSC) protocol.