Punchdrunk and how to "Sleep No More"

Felix Barrett and Maxine Doyle, from the British troupe Punchdrunk, discuss creating the interpretive, interactive theater piece “Sleep No More.” Over 100 rooms are on display in a renovated space in New York’s Chelsea gallery district, and accompanied by an eerie soundtrack, masked audience members walk at through the rooms, where performers re-enact scenes from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth.”

via The Leonard Lopate Show

I've spent most of my life marketing, producing and supporting the arts, in particular dance. I am also a technology-loving nerd, sharing a lot online, currently working with digital development teams. We talk about augmented reality and social networking and everything being media, but none of that compares to what "Sleep No More" accomplishes.

In short, this production is the most extraordinary and wonderful (in the true, honest sense of both words) that I've experienced in recent years, if not in my whole life.

It is wordless Shakespeare, living film noire, the best of contemporary dance, true augmented reality, masterful storytelling, respectful homage, detailed design, adult entertainment (by which I mean it provokes thought beyond the nudity that it does have, which is more like the nudes in paintings by masters,) and that is not even taking in consideration the technical requirements needed to produce and perform such a "play" every night.

Kirby Ferguson is right, everything is a remix, and Punchdrunk have taken the performing arts and remixed them creating something completely new, yet familiar, and absolutely spellbinding. 

Introducing Bjork's Gameleste, a bespoke Gamelan Celeste Hybrid

The epic Bjork Biophilia experience includes a live show, studio album, a new web site, a documentary, and a collection of iPad apps. 

Part of the Biophilia project sees Bjork commissioning the creation of new instruments, including the Gameleste. Part Gamelan, part Celeste, it’s the first of its kind. The mutant instrument can be played remotely via a MIDI keyboard. Watch the making-of below. 

Björk commissioned several custom instruments for the shows surrounding the release of 'Biophilia' - one is a hybrid gamelan celeste; the original steel bars of a vintage orchestral celeste were replaced with bronze tonebars hand-made by UK cymbalsmith Matt Nolan, and the instrument was rebuilt and MIDIfied by Iceland's top organ-maker, Björgvin Tòmasson. This is a 2-minute brief montage of the making of the 'Gameleste' Camera: Andy McCreeth Editing: Andy McCreeth and Matt Nolan Soundtrack Music: Matt Nolan

via hardcandymusic.com & thespacelab.tv

2CELLOS (Sulic & Hauser) Deliver a Cello Whirlwind of “Welcome to the Jungle”

2CELLOS (Sulic & Hauser) – Welcome to the Jungle (Guns n’ Roses Cover)

via covermesongs.com

Let's end the week with a great reminder of what happens when creative ideas are juxtaposed and used as a foundation for something new.

Cracking "The Thomas Beale Cipher" (Based on a true legend)

Based on a true legend of the famous unsolved code. The film contains 16 hidden messages that hold clues to the characters' secrets. Eight are fairly easy requiring only a close eye. Six are moderately difficult using various encryption methods. Two are extremely difficult requiring a genius mind to decrypt. Follow the film http://www.facebook.com/thomasbealecipher More about the film, http://www.thomasbealecipher.com Distributed by Short of the Week, http://www.shortoftheweek.com

The Thomas Beale Cipher: A short film by Andrew Allen

Using pioneering animation techniques to create a look never seen on film before, this 10-minute award-winning film tells the true legend of history's most challenging cipher. Professor White, cryptographer extraordinaire, is on the trail of the notoriously uncrackable Thomas Beale cipher—a century-old riddle hiding the location of a fortune in gold that has tormented its pursuers since inception. But White is not alone—shadowy forces are tight on his tail.

The film contains 16 hidden messages that hold clues to the characters' secrets. Eight are fairly easy and require only a close eye. Six are moderately difficult using various encryption methods. Two are extremely difficult and will require a genius mind to decrypt. 

Learn how the film was launched online. 

Gaming Grows Up

A New High Score for Video Games? NEA Declares Them Art

The National Endowment for the Arts has renamed and rebranded its Arts on Radio and Television grants, which will now be called Arts in Media grants: "We'll continue to support television and radio," NEA director of media arts Alyce Myatt explains in a video about the change, "but we're also going to fund content developed for the Web, for theatrical release, for mobile phones, content to be distributed via satellite, and even content for game platforms."

(via artinfo.com)

Smithsonian American Art Museum - The Art of Video Games

Video streaming by Ustream

The Art of Video Games exhibition will explore the 40-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects, the creative use of new technologies, and the most influential artists and designers. This website offered participants a chance to vote for 80 games from a pool of 240 proposed choices in various categories, divided by era, game type and platform. Voting took place between February 14, 2011 and April 17, 2011. The exhibition will be on display at the museum from March 16, 2012 through September 30, 2012.

(via artofvideogames.org)