First Play Berlin
Trampoline Berlin
Hebbel Am Ufer 2, Berlin | 12.10.06
First Play Berlin is a programme of live media art which took place from 28.9. - 15.10.06 in Berlin. Run by Trampoline Berlin, three of the works commissioned by Radiator 2005 Festival have been brought over to Germany. In addition,the world premiere of Blast Theory's Day of the Figurines was launched and played in the city for a period of 24 days.
DAY OF THE FIGURINES
Blast Theory
28.9. - 21.10.06
Internationally renowned Blast Theory premieres Day of the Figurines - a mobile phone game for up to 1000 players. Day Of The Figurines unfolds over 24 days in a city not unlike our own. Each day is an hour in this fictional city. Each player defines themselves through their actions and interactions. Choose a figurine to lead a virtual life as you respond to the intimacy and anonymity of text message instructions. Visit the Hebbel am Ufer foyer to watch the city develop and decay.
TREE
Simon Heijdens
10. - 21.10.06
Nature is become rare. Even the trees we see in our cities are planned and managed. Projected onto a façade in the centre of Berlin, Simon Heijdens’ Tree is an intervention that questions the role of nature in the built environment. Sensors pick up the movement of passers by and changes in the weather. Virtual branches sway to real wind. Digital leaves fall to the sounds of the city street. Throughout the installation the tree becomes barer and barer, creating an ongoing image of human activity.
‘ERE BE DRAGONS
Active Ingredient
12. - 15.10.06
'Ere Be Dragons was written onto early maps to describe places beyond reach. Using GPS and a heart rate monitor, Active Ingredient send players on a journey through the streets of Berlin to create a virtual world constructed by each beat of their heart. Pioneer and occupy digital land, overlap with other players and keep the world alive by keeping your heart healthy. Watch new territory grow and fall with the heart rate as results are plotted live onto a map at Hebbel am Ufer.
OUR HOUSE
Daniel Belasco-Rogers
12. - 15.10.06
Our House is Daniel Belasco Rogers’ virtual reconstruction of his childhood home as he traces the layout of a suburban building in London onto Hebbel am Ufer. It is where he learnt to walk, a house written indelibly into his body and informing his image of every house. Location sensing devices trigger an intimate and interactive experience as you watch wallpaper fade and hear stairs creak. The voices of those who have lived there guide you on a headphone tour of relocated rooms, photos and mementos.
LIFE: A USER’S MANUAL
Michelle Teran
13. - 15.10.06
Canadian artist Michelle Teran invites you on a CCTV tour of Berlin streets sourcing surveillance footage with her mobile video scanner. Revealing hidden layers and forbidden fragments, she pieces together unseen stories from invisible media all around us. Life: A User’s Manual, like the Georges Perec piece that shares its name, invites us to question the spaces we take for granted. It challenges and expands the notion of performance, the relationship of the artist and audience, production and exhibition, and ideas of locale and presence.
FROM HERE TO THE END OF MY GARDEN
Frank Abbott
12.10.06
Frank Abbott wants to remember his garden. Using hand held projectors and flip charts he will attempt to stave off the decay of memory under the stress of displacement. By continuously re-painting projected images onto the HAU 2 theatre walls and floor, and rehearsing the random repetitions of pottering about, he will tend his new virtual garden - displaced from its private space in Nottingham to a public arena in Berlin. This project follows on from a series of hand held projection pieces exploring displacement.
From 12th - 15th of October, First Play Berlin presents:
Day of the Figurines – Blast Theory (http://www.dayofthefigurines.co.uk/)
‘Ere Be Dragons – Active Ingredient (on this website --> FESTIVAL / COMMISSIONS / ERE BE DRAGONS)
Our House – Daniel Belasco Rogers (on this website --> FESTIVAL / COMMISSIONS / OUR HOUSE)
Tree – Simon Heijdens (on this website --> FESTIVAL / COMMISSIONS / TREE)
Life: A User’s Manual - Michelle Teran (on this website --> FESTIVAL / EVENTS / LIFE…)
From Here to the End of My Garden - Frank Abbott
for further details please check www.trampoline-berlin.de
CREDITS
First Play Berlin is funded by German Federal Cultural Foundation, British Council, Hebbel am Ufer and supported by Radiator Festival and Nottingham University.
Day Of The Figurines has been developed in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at University of Nottingham, Sony Net Services and the Fraunhofer Institute as part of the European research project IperG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming).
‘Ere Be Dragons is a collaboration between Active Ingredient, Robin Shackford, the Mixed Reality Lab, Nottingham
University, the Lansdown Centre for Electronic Arts and the London Sport Institute at Middlesex University.
The project has been funded by Radiator Festival for New Technology Art and the Wellcome Trust, with support from Hewlett Packard
Mobile Bristol and ScienceScope.
Our House is supported by HP Labs Bristol and the Computer Science
Department of the University of Bristol.
