She                                               Joan La Barbara, vocalist
He                                                Thomas Buckner, vocalist
Cyber Angel                                   I Nyoman Wenten, Balinese dancer
The Hand                                       Nanik Wenten (on laser disc)

Lighting Design                              Kyle Lemoi
Laser Disc Imagery                         Woody Vasulka
Nature Images                                Steina Vasulka
Digital Video Processing/                Aaron Davidson
 Video Engineer
Audio Engineer/ Computer Op          Clay Chaplin

Production Assistant                       Melissa Dubbin
Software Consultant                        Mark Coniglio
Technical Consultant                       John Potter
 

 Intimate Immensity  was developed at the California Institute of the Arts in its
Center for Experiments in Art, Information and Technology, an interdisciplinary
program for the development and application of new, interactive technology in the arts.
The project was made possible by grants from AT&T, the Rockefeller Foundation,
and the Peter and Eileen Norton Family Foundation.

COMPOSERíS NOTE ON INTIMATE IMMENSITYSynopsisïPhotos ï Technical Information (Back to Top of the Page)
 
 
 
 
 
 

Intimate Immensity has four performers:  He, She, the Cyber-Angel and the Hand
[a projected laser disc image].  The music is played by two electronically controlled pianos and computer-generated,  digitally processed sounds.  The lighting and the laser disc images are interactively controlled through the computer and triggered by the performers.

 The work is a meditation on our love affair with technology.  In our quest to be empowered, to be in control of our destinies and to be free of the constraints of nature,
we are constantly creating new tools.  The hand was the first tool and thus takes on a prominent role in the work.  We invented magic and our gods to empower us as well.
The Cyber-Angel represents magical empowerment.

 The text was inspired  by ëThe Poetics of Spaceí by Gaston Bachelard and ëHandís Endí by David Rothenberg.  There are also excerpts from Kafkaís ëParables and Paradoxesí and references to Marshall McLuhan and Lewis Mumford.

 In his book, ëThe Poetics of Spaceí, Gaston Bachelard describes the space-time experience of daydreaming as an ëIntimate Immensityí.  In part 3, the characters He and She exist in this daydream state which also represents the goal of the technological journey toward complete freedom from the constraints of nature, even from our own bodies.

 The Cyber-Angel, performed by a traditional Balinese dancer (I Nyoman Wenten), was conceived as a god-like figure who mysteriously controls the environment of two pianos [Disklaviers], video imagery, voices and lights.  In the opening sequence, he activates a giant projected hand which gradually learns to talk and play music.  Through commentary and parables the Angel and the Hand tell about our immense journey from the earliest use of tools (our hands) to ìa world without time ... a world without spaceî.

 He and She sit at their work tables.  He is reading; She is writing.  Both move in and out of a daydream state [Intimate Immensity] from which they eventually do not return.  With arm gestures they trigger light, video and sound events. At other times, their voices control video transformations.  They are seen and heard as if in different locations (futuristic telephonic ësitesí), each performing a meditation on His/Her sense of Intimate Immensity, a duet of parallel performances.  We hear what they sing and speak mixed with what the ìthinkî through amplified computer versions of their voices.   They are not aware of each other though they interact with the Angel whom they dreamed into being.  Each has differing views of the new space.  He reads and expresses ideas about technology which are accepting and intuitive, while  She writes and expresses ideas about technology which are more cautious and thoughtful.  Since the new space has no apparent boundaries, the characters gradually merge with one another as they  lose their bodies and move into the Intimate Immensity.  As the work draws to a close, images of their faces merge with those of corridors infinitely receding.

 The images are on 5 laser discs.  Through the computer software, any frame (image) on any of the laser discs can be accessed at any time.  Once the frame is accessed, the Laser disc player can be told to hold the frame (still image) or play forward or back at any speed.  This technique allows me to choreograph (animate) the images in real time. In addition, the software application, ìImag/ineî. is used to incorporate real-time video processing.
 In developing the concept for the laser disc images with Woody Vasulka, I was looking for a progression of images that supported the general narrative and a sense of imagery that amplifies and extends certain concepts suggested in the text.  The latter is most obviously seen in the transformed images of nature and, in Part 2, the progression of increasingly more abstract images of He and She.

 The music plays two roles.  The music of the performers, which includes the live piano music, supports the ënarrativeí development on the stage.  There is also music, played by the computer, which is a collage of modifications of pre-recordings of the piano [including inside piano sounds], the two vocalists and the Balinese dancer.  This music acts like an interior dialogue.  It is the world of the inner self, or perhaps, the Intimate Immensity.   Sometimes the two musics act alone and sometimes are juxtaposed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The performers interact with the computer by means oftheir voices and eight infrared sensors strategically placed on the stage.  All the signals are sent to the computers where two software programs, Interactorì and Image/ine reside. The two software programs were programmed to convert these signals to control lights, five laser discs, two Disklaviers, internal sounds in the computer, two CD ROMs, video processing and audio file verbal prompting for the performers.

 I refer to Intimate Immensity  as ëëa media poemî.  It has always been difficult to decide whether much of the staged work of the last half of this century is ìoperaî, or ìtheater pieceî, or ìperformance artî.  I am adding another category to the list,  by calling Intimate Immensity a media poem.  In creating the work I felt as if I have been constructing a giant four dimensional poem, just as poems have sound, musical phrases, evoke imagery and idea.  In this, and most of my work, all the media function together, each conveying an aspect of the workís meaningfulness,  similar to the way the gesture of oneís body participates in the way we communicate and the way memory alters the way we perceive the meaning.  In traditional theater the set, lights, images and music tend to create the context for the charactersí action, whereas in my work the action on the stage (especially of He and She)   functions to set a context for the various media.  The Cyber-Angel, on the other hand, is moving freely.  He is the embodiment of our godlike creations which we have empowered with the freedom we can only dream to attain.  Our gods like our technologies, once created, can alter us forever.
---Morton Subotnick

 Intimate Immensity is in three parts:

Part 1:
ìin the beginningÖî Music is heard in darkness.  An amorphous projected object gradually evolves into a fist. The Cyber-Angel is then revealed and, in silence, teaches the projected fist to open into a hand. Then, through his own hand gestures, the Angel teaches the Hand to speak. And, by performing the ìairî in front of him, the Angel remotely plays one piano while the Hand tries to imitate him with the other piano.

Part 2:
ìThe Tower of BabelÖî is an interaction between the Angel and He and She. The Angel, dancing, singing and speaking, leads He and She in a ritualistic music-dance based on the Monkey Chant. Alternating between the chorus of rhythmic punctuation and singing, and a refrain in which the Angel relates a creation myth in Kawi [an ancient Javanese language], He and She vocalize and, through arm gestures,  punctuate with percussive sounds and images, while their voices are heard speaking fragments of ideas from Marshall McLuhan and Lewis Mumford. This section culminates as the Hand emerges over the two pianos and joins She and He in a virtuosic performance.

Part 2 ends, ìThe Death of Godî, a voice tells Kafkaís parable of the Emperor who sent a messenger to deliver an important message to us as the Angel dances.

(Translation of the Creation Myth:
  Dadia, ta pinten kunanag Iawas Ikang kala
  Who knows when time began
  Kadi gelap sumarasah anusup ing randu parajamanala
  When earth, wind, and fire trembled and quaked into being,
  apah, teja, banyu, akasa Iawan pretiwi.
  Followed by the sacred tree of life, by people and all creation.
  Mijil a ri gatinira Sang Hyang Sunlyantrara amunggel punanag cerita
  The Divine Void comes forth, measuring out the universe.)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Part 3:
a) ìIntimate Immensityî is a series of meditations by He and She on Intimate Immensity. From time to time, the Angel is seen  on his journey where he occasionally stops to create a new world.
b) ìA world without time. A world without spaceÖî He and She are approaching the end of their journey toward complete freedom from the limits of nature and their bodies. They sing and speak of a growing immensity within themselves. Their own transformed images appear behind them.

The daydream state takes over as their bodies gradually disappear. They sing, the pianos play an accompaniment, and the images gradually grow more abstract as each of their images merges with the otherís.

Their bodies are gone. They sing and speak of the sensation of a bodiless mind in a world without time or space. Their images merge with a series of images that are receding into infinity.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
 
 
 
 
 

Photos Program Notes ï Synopsis ï Technical Information (Back to Top of the Page)

  The hand as seen on the center screen early in the work.

It has been controlled by the Cyber Angel [Balinese Dancer].

   The Angel controlling sound and the image behind him

by activating the infrared beam.

 This image shows the two vocalists with  images

behind each as well as the center screen.

This is another example of the Angel

ontrolling the rear image.

Here the monitor has the hand in it

while the Disclaviers play.

In this picture, the Angel is controlling

both disclaviers and the image behind him.

This landscape is scene with various superimpositions

throughout the middle of the work.

The Angel controls its modulation with his voice.

Here we see the male singer and the angel

interacting with the images and the piano.

The singer has just caused the left wall of the center image to explode

while the Angel is playing the piano.

Here is a close up of the wall exploding..

in this case the female singer has caused her side to explode.

On the left we see a ball of fire.  On the right is an example of vocal modulation on the ball.

 At the end of the work, the dancer and the two singers have vanished

and their images become embedded in  receding walls.

It ends as their shadows move out into infinity.

Only their voices are heard, shifting through the auditorium space.

The male vocalist is on platform 1 and the female vocalist is on platform 2.  In fron of each are mounted a mic and an infra red beam controller [in blue] on the diagram. From the sides of the platform [at waist heght to the vocalists/and head height to the dancer]are two more infra red beams [denoted in orange on the diagram].  Behind each vocalist is a rear projection screen with an LCD projector behind each screen.  Between the platforms and to the rear of the stage is the large center screen which is serviced by a larger projector, either front or rear depending on the stage.  In front of each platform is a disclavier and over each piano is a video monitor.
The dancer moves in the front area of the stage as well as the space between the two platforms.  He wears a wireless mic and activates  6 infra red beams.
Four of the beams are waist high and located: 1 in front, 1 in rear, 1 on each side. The reamining two are overhead and shared with the vocalists.
All three performers wear wireless head sets to receive cues.

There are two desktop computers [Mac].  One [main computer] hosts all the audio files and the main controlling application and file [Interactor].  The other [image computer] hosts the software application,'Imagine' which sends stored images and controls  the manipulation of video images.  We used two laptops [mac] which contained the audio files for the cueing of the three performers. Each of these also contained an Interactor file.

In addition to the computers there are three video projectors, 5 laser disc players, a midi light board and a midi controlled video switcher.

Input To The Computers.

Each Infra red beam is associated with a particular note on midi message.  When a beam is broken it sends a signal to the main computer which, through Interactor, is given instructions as to what event should occur.  Their voices are sent to the mixer to be heard and also sent to the image compouter to control [through Imagine] video imagery.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Output From the Computers.

The main computer [through Interactor] sends messages to:
1ïAny combination of the 5 laserdisc players.  These messages contain controls for START, STOP, SPEED, DIRECTION [FORWARD OR BACK], STILL FRAME, AT WHICH FRAME TO START, and AT WHICH FRAME TO STOP.
2ïThe video switcher. This tells which laserdisc player will be routed to which combination of projectors and/or monitors.
3ïSound files are played on cue from the hard drive  and the internal cd-rom of the main computer. Here the loudness is controlled as well as the start and stop of each sound.
4ïThe main compouter tells the image computer which set of images and manipulations [presets] to use.
5ïInformation is sent to the two laptops to send the proper cue to the performers.
6ïProgram changes are sent to the midi light board to change the lights.  The midi light board is preprogrammed.
 7-In addition to audio files, the computer controlls the two disclaviers through midi signals.
 

The work is in 22 'scenes' most of which advance automatically, but, a computer operator is always there to advance the computer if something goes wrong.