Narcissus' Well
in collaboration with Gregory Kuhn, Joseph Howard, and Wesley Smith

"What you hope to lay hold of has no existence. Look away and what you love is nowhere. This is your own shadow." – Narcissus Legend from Ovid's Metamorphoses

Narcissus' Well is an interactive multimedia installation that investigates how we are absorbed in the ephemeral, the intangible, the invisible, and the faraway – the quest for self-knowledge mediated through technology. The installation employs a configuration of concave spherical mirrors and real-time digital imaging, in which the spectator interacts with what is described optically as a “real image,” a rendering of his or her own mirror image extruded three-dimensionally into the physical space.

One of the most ancient parables depicting the experience of self was the legend of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own image reflected in a perfect pool of water. Narcissus ultimately destroyed himself in the unresolved predicament of self-absorption and self-love. Interaction with one’s mirror image in the installation, like that of Narcissus’ futile attempt to embrace himself in the agitated waters of the reflecting pool, leads to a spectacular audio-visual dematerialization of the viewer experience: a dissolution and immersion in water.

This sensation of absorption and the loss of one’s presence also finds its roots in the fear of souls being captured in mirrors. The Etruscan word for soul, hinthial, literally means, “image reflected in a mirror.” In contemporary times we may ask: is the search for self-knowledge extended and amplified through the medium of digital media? Or, do we find ourselves in a crisis - like that of Narcissus’ confusion or the loss of the soul – in which we can no longer make the distinction between that which is real and that which is not, the convergence and blurring of the real and the virtual, the loss of self in the absence of reality.

Perform.Media is a transdisciplinary festival and symposium of creativity, theory, research and technoculture.
September 29th-October 14th, 2006
Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Religion of the Lie (Orf’s Baptism) is the latest installment of the epic multimedia work-in-progress, A Season in Hell, a commentary on the path of the United States in the post-9/11 era produced under the auspices of the U.S. Department of Art and Technology. The current work confronts deteriorating conditions resulting from some fundamentalist forms of religious ideology.

The character Orf, who like the mythological Orpheus transgresses boundaries between the living and the dead, is an aesthetic being traveling from the “Other World” to visit Gospel Pilgrim Cemetery to speak with the dead.

ORF'S IMMOLATION was originally created as a site-specific performance
work, presented as the closing event of Mardi Gras, New Orleans, February
28, 2006, 11:00 pm - 12:00 am CST. ORF'S IMMOLATION was performed
by a solo tenor (Orf) accompanied by a mobile audio-visual system enabling
video projection and sound distribution in a multimedia walkthrough of the
streets of New Orleans. ORF'S IMMOLATION was executed from
Washington Park in the Marigny Triangle to the St. Louis Cathedral at Jackson
Square in the heart of the French Quarter. Images of the hurricane and its
aftermath, drawn from broadcast news footage, were projected on the caped
figure of Orf (derived from the myth of Orpheus), while he sang classic
American songs (blues, jazz, and spirituals) set to an original electronic
composition. ORF’S IMMOLATION confronts social and political conditions
in America that led to the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina. The work underscores the necessity of the active observer during perilous times, as Orf
metaphorically ‘absorbs’ the imagery of horror and devastation of Katrina
culminating in a fiery self-immolation in front of the St. Louis Cathedral. The
act of immolation is intended as a symbolic gesture evoking defiance,
catharsis, purification and rebirth. ORF’S IMMOLATION attempts to recover
and reclaim what is sacred and what is at risk, what is fragile in the unique
culture of New Orleans.

Feature Speaker
Lecture/performance: Speech for the Last Judgment

This panel explores how communications and new media are increasingly employed in the arts to engage, connect, and empower global audiences in times of crisis.

As ruptures from world crises deepen, more people look to alternative models for exchange and mediation. Technological means have recently surfaced in the arts that successfully bridge social, cultural, and political differences. Different disciplines come into play, in questioning, challenging, and experimenting with social and political change. How do artists, curators, and theorists use telecommunications technology proactively? How do peer-to-peer networks, on-line social spaces, and blogs lead to participation and empowerment? How are artists using electronic systems to reposition the notion of dialogue and to define dialogue as mediation that counters or disrupts stereotypes and dangerous ideologies?

The panel features artists, theorists, writers, thinkers and critics from different backgrounds, and is moderated by artist Randall Packer.

Panelists:
Steve Dietz, curator and Director, Zero-One, San Jose, CA
Carin Kuoni, curator and Director, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, New School, New York
Drazen Pantic, internet activist, Co-Director, Location One, New York
Jon Winet, artist and Professor, University of Iowa

Moderator:
Randall Packer, artist, Assistant Professor, Department of Art, American University, Washington D.C., Secretary-at-Large, U.S. Department of Art & Technology

Presented on occasion of the College Art Association's 95th Annual Conference in association with the New Media Caucus.

MULTIMEDIALE offers multiple ways of approaching art that goes far beyond traditional ways of thinking about media. It stimulates artists to create new work and explore new spaces for art making (= the city and its virtual appearance), hence the theme: CAPTURING THE CAPITAL!

MULTIMEDIALE seeks to energize the Washington DC community with new ideas about art, society and politics.

Organized by Randall Packer and Niels Van Tomme, curated by Niels Van Tomme.

America's Grave & the Eulogy for the Nation will be presented at Provisions Libary as part of MULTIMEDIALE, a Festival of Art, Politics, and New Media in Washington, DC, April 19 through April 22, 2007. The theme of MULTIMEDIALE is Capturing the Capital!

As part of the festival, renowned Turkish curator Beral Madra will lecture on "Art as Mediation" at American University, April 19th, 7pm.

Presented at the the Bay Area Dance Awards

In association with Bay Area National Dance Week, VoiceofDance.com, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts

Monday, April 23rd, 2007
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater
6:00 pm Greeting Reception
7:00 pm Awards Ceremony

Ballet Mori - 1st Prize, Sound Category

Mediation in the current art discourse is the process in which the different disciplines are employed in questioning, challenging and experimenting with new models and forms that propose social and political change. This presentation describes artistic strategies and methodologies developed over the past five years in conjunction with the US Department of Art & Technology, a virtual government agency created as a critique of the role of the artist in society and politics.

Exhibition
School of the Visual Arts

America's Grave / Eulogy for the Nation
(performance canceled)