ICA

QUARTET

Thursday 15 - Sunday 18 February, 2007

Thursday - Saturday @ 7.30pm daily

Sunday 18 February @ 5pm

http://www.quartetproject.net

The Great Hall, St Bartholomew's Hospital, Farringdon

Tickets & box office information: 020 7930 3647 / http://www.ica.org.uk/

Movement is played across the senses of the human body.

Informed by new scientific research in the field of physiology, this ICA co-production is the culmination of several years' collaborative research. It is an investigation into the kineasthetics of music: determining movements which produce sounds, which in turn produce new choreographies.

Specialists from dance, music, biomedical and computational science, 3D animation and motion control use cutting edge technology to experiment with the ephemeral nature of real-time art. Virtual, mechanical and live elements come together on stage in the Great Hall at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, creating new choreographies from sensory data. Three leading choreographers - Lea Anderson, Russell Maliphant and Lisa Nelson - will each shape sections of the performance.

Quartet's central figure, a virtual dancer, is an avatar of sensual information, playing between its manifestation and its puppeteers. On stage the interactions between the performers slip through different pairings, trios, and quartets, such as the musician using the speed or acceleration of her violin playing to duet with the real dancer; or a trio between the real and virtual dancers and the robot camera, exploring the choreography of cinematic space: the poetics of looking and moving. This interplay uncovers the tensions within the transfer of data.

The project presents a versatile and flexible creative process for experimenting with cause and effect in multiple media; an insight into what it means to transform one medium or gesture into a completely different one; a redefinition of interaction through music and dance.

Quartet invites the audience to observe the similarities between the movements of the virtual figure and the real dancer, and between musical elements. The performance will allow the audience to experience contrasts between different synesthetic responses to visual and oral expression.

The results will be magical, revealing the audience and performers in a wholly new way.

Quartet has been funded by Sciart Production Awards 2005-6 for the Wellcome Trust in collaboration with the Physiological Laboratory at Cambridge University and the Arts Council of England. It is co-produced by Live and Media Arts Department at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, with support from the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, and ZKM Center for Art and Technology, Germany.

Further press information:

Louise Hojer

louisehojer@yahoo.co.uk

Notes to Editors:

Information about the artists

Margie Medlin (Director) is an artist and designer and film-maker leading the field of dance and the moving image.

Stevie Wishart (Musical Director and Composer) is a composer and performer of violin, hurdy-gurdy, voice and electronics.

Holger Deuter (3D character designer) is an animator, 3D designer, and has expertise in motion capture, digital composition.

Nick Rothwell (Interface Designer and Systems Development) is a Computer Scientist and Digital Media Artist working in the field of electronic music, responsive artworks and systems programming.

Gerald Thompson (Motion Control Camera Designer) works in the film industry specialising in motion control and digital effects.

Todor Todoroff (Sound and Gesture Systems Engineer) is an electrical engineer specialized in sensor design, digital signal processing, sound design, and interactive systems for performance.

Lea Anderson (Choreographer) has choreographed over 100 original works for her companies and is founder and Artistic Director of the Cholmondeleys and The Featherstonehaughs.

Rebecca Hilton (Choreographer) is an Australian based movement consultant for the development stages.

Russell Maliphant's (Choreographer) awards include Critics Choice Award 2005, South Bank Show Award for Dance 2006 and Laurence Olivier Award for best new dance production 2006.

Lisa Nelson (Choreographer) works internationally as dance-maker and improvisational performer.

Carlee Mellow (Dancer) continues to work with many Australian choreographers in addition to the creation of her own works.

Other Partners

Quartet is part funded by a Sciart Production Award (2005-2006) from the Wellcome Trust in collaboration with The Physiological Laboratory, Cambridge University.

Quartet is Co-produced with the Live and Media Arts department of the Institute of Contemporary Art, London (ICA).

Other funding partners include: The Arts Council of England; Arts Victoria Cultural Exchange program.; The New Media Board; International Community Partnerships; and Market Development of the Australia Council for the Arts.

With project support from:

ZKM, Zentrum fuer Kunst und Medientechnologie. Germany.

STEIM "Studio for Electro Instrumental Music" Holland.

ART ZOYD Centre Transfrontalier de Production et de Création Musicales, Valenciennes, France,

ARTeM (Art, Recherche, Technologie et Musique), Belgium

Hartware MedienKunstVerein, Dortmund, Germany.

Claire Gascoyne

ICA Press Office

020 7766 1406