Steve Gibson - Virtual DJ
Wednesday 14th July 2004
Stealth, nr The Rescue Rooms, Nottingham

We are delighted to be able to confirm that Steve Gibson will be performing his piece, Virtual DJ, on the evening of Wednesday 14th July at Stealth in central Nottingham. 

Please note that accommodation on Wednesday 14th July is NOT included in the Full Board delegate rate and so needs to be selected on your registration form and purchased in addition to this option. We apologise for any inconvenience.

VIRTUAL DJ uses the tracking capabilities of the Gesture and Media System, invented by Acoustic Positioning Research, to allow one or more users to use space as an audio remix or performance tool. Users literally wave their arms, and as if by magic new audio loops are accessed, synthesizer filters are open and closed, samples are played, and drum loops are started and stopped. In addition robot lights follow the users, dynamically changing in relation to their position and the audio.

The piece can be performed by one or two local users in a large space, but with the help of CANARIE, a version with one local performer and one remote performer can be performed over the internet at two geographically-removed sites. In this scenario, two identical presentations can be held, each with the ghostly presence of a remote interactor moving sounds and lights in tandem with the local performer.

Virtual DJ is a prototype for a new type of club and network-based performance, and can be used by anyone from absolute musical neophyte to the expert performer. Virtual DJ seeks to find a new mode of performance and editing: one that is spontaneous, capable of changing dramatically from one performance to another, and above all, seamless.

Steve Gibson is a Canadian multimedia artist, composer, and theorist. Simultaneously deeply involved with technology and deeply suspicious of its effects, Gibson’s musical, multimedia and virtual reality work celebrates both the liberation and paranoia of techno-fetishism. His works have been performed in such venues as Ars Electronica, the Whitney Museum of American Art, Banff Centre for the Arts, Festival International Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville, European Media Arts Festival, San Francisco Art Institute, 4 & 6CyberConf.