Rhizome Avatar Performance Proposal

Rhizome Commission Proposal for a customized Avatar Performance.

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND:
Hello, my name is Jeremy O. Turner but avatars in the Traveler community call me "Distro". I am a Media Artist based out of Vancouver, Canada and create avatar artwork and performances using avatar communities such as this one depicted above.

The software and community I am using is called Digital Space Traveler and is a freeware avatar program (PC only) that can host up to 20 avatars at a time with virtually immersive spatially attenuated voice-chat capabilities. Check out the download at
www.digitalspace.com/traveler

In addition, there are over 300 rooms to choose from and 3 distinct communities. For example, this "Marioworld" room has been designed by a citizen named "pHluid". "pHluid" is part of the Traveler community of Techworlds.org where I have been primarily exhibiting my avatar performances.
www.techworlds.org

Their co-founder, Dominic Peters (Seattle, WA) has been most helpful with helping design custom avatars for me.

In fact, Dominic made this dragon avatar and has offered to design my next avatar made exclusively for a Rhizome.org commission. It should be noted that my avatar can move in 3D virtual space and can voice-chat with full lip-synching abilities.

Please read my 500 word proposal below to see what I specifically have in mind for the Rhizome.org commission.


500 Word proposal: With the Rhizome Commission, I plan to hire Dominic Peters from Techworlds to design me a custom avatar based on one of my sketches (initial draft crudely designed on scrap paper and then embellished with Adobe Illustrator for precision).

*Please scroll down this blog for a picture of 3 of my preliminary sketches...

Once this avatar has been designed, I will then compose a series of digital audio "Icaro"-type compositions using the wavefile manipulation software I have at home (I have composed 100+ CDs worth of similar compositions). I wish to sing my special "Icaro" songs for the Rhizome audience when they visit me in Digitalspace Traveler. Here is a readymade definition of an "Icaro" song:

"Icaros are shamanic power songs learned either from an maestro shaman or from the spirits.
They are used to communicate with the spirits of the natural world, to heal the sick, and to actually provoke certain kinds of visual displays or visions in those medicated with Ayahuasca.

The most important of these songs are those learned from the spirits themselves or those received in the dream visions which often follow an ayahuasca session."

http://www.biopark.org/peru/icaros.html

Check out some wavefile samples of traditional Icaro songs at:
http://www.biopark.org/peru/icaros.html#icarorecordings
Insetad of using Ayahuasca, I will use cyberspace to allow the audience promoted via Rhizome.org to correspond on a regular one-on-one or group basis with my custom designed avatar. At each performance session, I will transmit up to a minimum of 10 unique Icaro-style songs.

If my commission is accepted, I will add a post to this blog explaining why I chose to create and "sing" my own Icaro-style compositions as an avatar.


BUDGET: Neither myself nor Dominic Peters requires much money to produce this special avatar performance for Rhizome. The commission money would go towards an honorarium for Dominic Peters as he will need some time to design my avatar using 3D Studio Max. Dominic and Techworlds.org would also be hosting my avatar for free so this is another reason why I wish to hire him directly as the avatar designer. The room will be TBA but will be a pre-made room so there is no need to fund this aspect of the performance.

My artist fee can be negotiated with Rhizome and I am more than happy to accept whatever reimbursement Rhizome.org has to offer if it means the opportunity to perform on behalf of Rhizome. $900 should be enough money for the commission.

WORKING TITLE: Avatar Icaro Workshop for Rhizome.org

Previous Avatar Work #1 - Voice of Fire

The avatar (red stripe) was designed by Dominic Peters and is based on my specifications. The Blue Room was also designed by Dominic Peters. This is my avatar ode to Barnett Newman.

Please see the link from the blog's front page to the Voice of Fire blog for this performance series or just type www.voiceoffire.blogspot.com to see the main picture.

Previous Work Sample #2

Here is an avatar conference I curated with the Istanbul Museum of Contemporary Art as part of WebBiennial 05. http://istanbulmuseum.org/new/english/webbiennial.htm

As you can see, I am quite involved in the avatar community.

Previous Work Sample #3

Here is a screenshot from the documentary called AVATARA (2003) that I made with Donato Mancini and Flick Harrison. This is considered to be one of the very first documentaries to be shot entirely in-world (in cyberspace).

Christiane Paul (Whitney Digital Arts Curator) interviewed me about AVATARA here:

www.intelligentagent.com/archive/Vol3_No2_VR_paul.html

The official AVATARA website is located at: http://members.shaw.ca/flickharrison/avatara/

Previous Work Sample #4

Here is a screenshot of my avatar band, The Gates. The Gates is a regular avatar performance duo in Traveler and has broadcast concerts in places such as: Berlin, Chiang Mai and Stockholm. The Gates is probably the only band to play a LIVE 8 tribute concert exclusively in Cyberspace.

The Gates is a collaboration with Alberto Guedea.

www.techworlds.org/thegates

I am also in a VoIPunk band with Alberto called The Hotmails - www.thehotmails.com

Crude Avatar Sketches (1st phase)

Here are some examples of the kind of avatar I wish to commission Dominic Peters to make for me with Rhizome's financial help. As you can see, these sketches are very rough and faded. I simply used coloured crayon on lined paper.

I will pick one of these three examples and post up a more professional Adobe Illustrator rendering very soon...Stay tuned!

p.s. yes, I intentionally back-date these images so they appear at the bottom of the blog. I want the commission proposal to be the main focus for consideration and the blogs afterwards are my support materials.