ETHER explorations

My entry into “the ether” came by way of traditional documentary filmmaking, Julie Talen’s theory of glimpse culture and multi-channel storytelling, and video installation, like Gary Hill’s Tall Ships. Moving from single screen, to multiple screens, to placing stories in space activated my imagination, especially around the differences in how the body is engaged in storytelling. Then the second wave of XR innovation (circa 2014) arrived, bringing access to new tools—VR, AR, MR— and, critical grants from industry for experimentation. With my long-time creative and business partner Sandy Cioffi, we dove deep: producing festivals and workshops, engaging innovating artists like Nonny de la Peña, Winslow Porter, Milica Zec, Toby Coffey, BeAnotherLab, among others, and making our own work.

ENGAGING THE BODY IN STORYTELLING

Captivated by BeAnotherLab’s The Machine To Be Another—its potential to illuminate a liminal space/ether that’s somewhere between Me and You —we hosted BeAnother Lab residencies over several years to train in embodied narrative methodology and production. Embodied narratives are virtual reality first-person non-fiction stories enhanced by facilitated touch and physical props where the viewer “sits” inside another person’s experience and point of view.

The round image is from “EMBODIED NARRATIVE: MARIBEL”, an immigration attorney relaying her experiences of first arriving in the US.
Facilitated touch: wind; greeting (hand on shoulder) from a friend
Props: law book

Presented at: TWIST360, Seattle, WA * EMBODIED NARRATIVES OF THE SILICON RAINFOREST, Pacific Science Center, Seattle, WA * FEMINIZING THE MACHINE workshops for global feminist convening RECON, Kathmandu, Nepal * BELLWEATHER, Bellvue, Washington * UNLIKELY COLLABORATORS, Ojai, CA

FORGING A PUBLIC ETHER

Working in the “round world” of virtual spaces peaked my interest in the invisible particles, frequencies, histories, artifacts, ghosts—The Ether—which exists all around us but we can’t access (unaided) through sight, hearing, touch. This work also made the Digital Ether—the gazillions of bits flying through the air dominated by corporate interests and evolutionarily transforming human experience (!)—conceptually accessible and sparked questions about why wasn’t there more advocacy for public space/commons for art, learning, gathering and collective ownership of infrastructure and data. To begin addressing this questions, Sandy Cioffi and I developed STORYBRICKS ON THE RED LINE and WE STREET.