<nettime> Moving Forest AKA the Castle

["Josephine Berry Slater" <josie@metamute.org>]

Hi Nettimers,

For any of you who were at the Transmediale in 2008, you will definitely
remember Moving Forest - a peripatetic performance across Berlin, in which
artists, technologists, ranters, hackers, poets and wotnot improvised with
the ciphers, signals and sonic dimensions of the city. The AKA the Castle
collective have wrangled another edition of it in London this year, which
will reach its apotheosis at the Parade Ground of the Chelsea School of
Art this Wednesday 4th July in a 12 hour performance/occupation (see
below) and a workshop (Coda) on Thursday 5th. Please come and join in the
festivities, and vent some Olympics/militarised city induced bile.

Hope to see you there,

Josie

For the full programme events see:
http://www.movingforest.net/

MOVING FOREST AKA THE CASTLE
A twelve-day prelude moving across the city; a twelve-hour sound art opera
of betrayal and rebellion culminating in a spectacular series of
disturbing performances in Chelsea College of Art Parade Ground; a one-day
coda of debate.

Moving Forest expands the last 12 minute of Kurosawa?s adaptation of
Shakespeare?s Macbeth, ?Throne of Blood? (1957), into a sonic performance
saga with a prelude of 12 days, a durational performance of 6 acts in 12
hours and a closing Coda for the sake of argument.

First presented at Transmediale.08, Berlin 2008, Moving Forest London maps
an imaginary castle and a camouflaged forest revolt onto the
hyper-playground of the London metropolis on the eve of Olympics 2012.
Presented by a temporarily assembled troupe AKA the castle, Moving Forest
brings together diverse visual/sonic/electronic/digital/ performance
artists along with writers, walkers, coders, hackers, mobile agents,
twitters, networkers and the general public to realize a contemporary
version of a classic play. Making use of all media, the acts elaborate
operatic manoeuvres into an escalating scheme of conspiracy and its
contemporaneous political manifestations. The camouflage tree branches of
Birnam Wood are electronically updated with contemporary forms of stealth
and insurrection. Armed with signals and slogans, the Moving Forest forces
an entry into the Castle. A final merging of forest and castle occurs
during a moment of downfall, jubilation and loss.

PRELUDE - 12 days - How does a forest move?
During these 12 day prelude leading up to the 6 acts 12 hour performance
day, self- assigned/collectively mobilized acts and actions in the form of
walking, reading, talking, workshops, performance, installation take place
in London metropolis and on the net.

PERFORMANCE - 6 acts 12 hours
In the forest (greater London metropolis), omen[act0] begins with witches
messaging prophecy and prediction. Inside the castle, classic and
contemporary tales of remorse[act1], betrayal[act2] and overthrow [act3]
unfold. Each act is realized by collaborating visual, sound and
performance artists making use of all mediums, elaborating operatic
manoeuvre into an escalating scheme of conspiracy and its contemporaneous
political manifestations.

Outside the castle, the mobile forest, electronically updated with
antennas, electronic magnetic waves, geolocation, armed with bytes and
pixels, signals and slogans, is assembled for simulated insurgency
measures. Mobilized urbanites, empowered by free network emissions, carry
the camouflage tree antennas, in a spider-shaped movement,
towards the Castle Central. As the sheer strength of signals forces an
entry into the Castle, a final merging of forest and castle occurs during
the act4 - Insurgency; a moment of downfall, jubilation and loss. The act
of eternal return [act5] brings us back to [act0]omen set admist a dusted,
ruined castle.

During the 12 hour performance, Harwood?s 12 hours rendering of the last
12 minutes of Throne of Blood (Kurosawa) is projected, act by act, along
with the performance at Triangle Space.

July 5, CODA - One day Workshop!
This workshop follows on from the Moving Forest event on July 4 as a coda,
giving a time for reflection and for developing the argument and
experience of the work along other lines. It involves participants,
organisers and guests, and people from CCW, CCS, RADA and activists,
artists and others from across the sprawl.

What are the aesthetics of the unitised/securitised/database city, one
scorched by thick steams of capital, excitation and control? What forms of
timing, synchronisation, disruption and commune are possible, dead, or
making themselves happen? What kinds of signals and distribution can start
other forms of composition? What lines do the arrows that fill the air
describes, how does the forest move?

Taking Moving Forest as a case study, the conference gathers together
thinkers, artists, programmers, schemers and strategists to provide a
context for unravelling complex innovative and challenging performance
works.

Participants: The Hexists, Linda Dement, Marco Donnarumma, Laura Oldfield
Ford, Francesca da Rimini, Kendra Jones, Ophelia Bellio, Dena Rysdam
Miller, Valentina Vuksic, Oliver Wolf, Ewa Justka, Kaffe Matthews, xname,
Anat Ben-David, Linda Dement, Dani Villalba Suñol, Larisa Blazic,
YoHA, Stephene Fortune, Bioni Samp, Vasco Alves, Tom Keene, Clifford
Hammett, Alexandra Sofie Joensson, Anna Blumenkranz, Atau Tanaka, Tetsuo
Kogawa, Toby Heys, Steve Goodman, Marc Widmer, Jonas Öhrström,
Patric Kaufmann, Onigiri force, The Militant City (with Isaac
Marrero-Guillamón), MzTEK, John Jordan, Lottie Child, Shu Lea
Cheang, Matthew Fuller, Graham Harwood, Rachel Baker, David Garcia, Eleni
Ikoniadou, Josephine Berry-Slater, John Cunningham, Jesse Darling, Brian
Ashton, Nick Thoburn, Robin Bale, Derek Shaw, James Stevens, Ilze Black,
Susana Gonzalez Garcia, Martinez Gonzalez, Kim Jakobsen To


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