Performance Transfer Protocol- a live media performance for the ZOOM videconference platform, May 13th, 2020. 7pm EST

May 26, 2020

Performance Transfer Protocol- a live media performance for the ZOOM videconference platform, May 13th, 2020. 7pm EST

Art Jones, BLUE/LIVES, 2018 to present. 100+ 3D printed sculptures, video, sound.

Each 140 x140 x 30mm sculpture derives from Google Maps data, marking the latitude and longitude of a fatal encounter between an unarmed civilian and law enforcement officers in the United States beginning in 2018. Each sculpture is identified by an individual’s name, followed by the latitude and longitude of the location of their death, for example: Li Xi Wang, 34.0210537379, -117.655869628.

I want this work to have a strong physical presence, in spite of (because of) its miniature scale. To achieve this, 1/64^th scale-model humans placed among the sculptures will be projected life-size (in ideal circumstances) onto a gallery wall. This provides another sense of scale that the viewer may ponder. How big is the issue, how much do you want to touch the topographic maps—maybe even pick them up? Does the longitude/latitude next to a person’s name abstract the reality that I want to represent (tangentially/factually/ambivalently)? Can these facts—now able to be parsed down to the square half-meter thanks to digital imaging and GPS—become more than the sum of their data… Can each become a particular rendering of a specific person’s circumstance?

Each piece in my Blue/Lives series retains traces of its digital origin, yet through its specific form (topography as index/fingerprint?), it brings us back to the particular: the analog, real-world circumstances of the deaths of each man, woman, or child.

The video provides a first-person point-of-view traveling alongside, inside, and above a virtual landscape formed from this topography of the dead.

Performance Transfer Protocol (PTP)- a real-time expanded media performance for remote collaboration, arranged for phone, tablet, laptop, desktop screens and audio devices. May, 2020

Part 1 (20 minutes):

Video: A virtual drive-by video providing a first-person perspective moving through a landscape of 3D-modeled topographic sculptures, derived from Google Maps data, marking the longitude and latitude location of a fatal encounter between an unarmed civilian and law enforcement officers in the United States from 2019 to the present.

This video clip will periodically be blended/mixed/interrupted by the players in their respective rectangles. Each musician/sound collaborator can share their screen at any time- collaborating in the real-time visual collage.

Audio: The collaborative audio performance (via ZOOM, twitch or similar livestream platform) will incorporate a live improvised score to this video. The collaborators are encouraged to produce sounds in response to the video, the other players, or both.

Part 2 (6 minutes)

An improvised version of Pink Floyd’s song “Wish You Were Here”, accompanied by video.

Chat log for Performance Transfer Protocol , May 13th, 2020

19:14:55    From m666 To a jones(privately) : hey are the voices part of it or did someone forget to mute their mic
19:15:30    From at rossetti To a jones(privately) : Which screen do you mean for us to see? We see the audio program. Sry to bother.
19:16:33    From m666 : hey you talking, can you mute your mic if you aren’t participating?
19:16:44    From m666 : we hear your entire conversation
19:24:38    From m666 : enough about the relief bill and watch the show…
19:25:06    From m666 : mute your mic!
19:25:38    From Oren Herschander : Is that not part of it?
19:25:49    From Diana Guerra To a jones(privately) : it is now...
19:25:51    From Tyler Coburn To a jones(privately) : Art, if Ernie is not part of the performance, you can mute his mic.
19:25:56    From Diana Guerra : it is now…
19:25:58    From m666 : no i think its someone’s conversation?
19:26:07    From m666 : i could be wrong but i doubt it…
19:26:15    From Oren Herschander : But its Art!
19:26:20    From Carla Rodea : ha
19:26:23    From Tyler Coburn : Art is Ernie Brooks?
19:26:28    From m666 : not cool
19:26:31    From Carla Rodea : hahaa
19:26:38    From m666 : i don’t want to hear more about the virus
19:26:38    From Dan Joseph To a jones(privately) : The host should be able to mute other’s audio…
19:26:50    From m666 : mute that shit
19:27:02    From Oren Herschander : I want to say. Its an Argentinine accent
19:27:11    From Carla Rodea : yes
19:27:39    From m666 : its a beautiful accent but they need to mute the mic because we cannot experience the show
19:27:50    From Carla Rodea : this is the show
19:28:10    From Oren Herschander : Boom
19:28:17    From Diana Guerra : lol
19:28:24    From Oren Herschander : #TraderJones
19:28:28    From m666 : silly
19:28:29    From yujin son : lolll
19:28:33    From Diana Guerra : I’m loving it
19:29:26    From Arian Blanco To a jones(privately) : Unless Ernie Brooks is part of the presentation, his conversation is wrecking the show...
19:29:48    From m666 : art jones rules, that convo is ruining the vibe, I’m sure its not part of it.
19:30:10    From Oren Herschander : 666 = the devil?
19:30:32    From Oren Herschander : Or is it the m60 like the bus + 6
19:30:40    From m666 : what kind of question is that
19:30:56    From Heeseo Choi : M666 is ART
19:31:02    From Carla Rodea : ha
19:31:06    From Diana Guerra : looool
19:31:10    From Oren Herschander : ya, it is art
19:31:14    From Oren Herschander : We’re in an art program
19:31:26    From m666 : I’m the best and worst thing that ever happened to you

Collaborators:

Krisia Ayala: Synth sounds, things that sound like birds.

Cecilia Lopez: A spectrum of resonant frequencies.

Matt Mottel: Funkadelic futurist sounds.

Kaitlyn Paston: Vocals, things that sound like water.

Art Jones: Video, sounds that derive from images, samples.