Group Shufflesition Walk (2007)
A mobile, participatory, playful and interactive sound and performance intervention

Live Social Cinema and Improvised Performance
"The personal computer will be replaced by the interpersonal computer."–Roy Ascott

I am fascinated by the movement of audio-visual content and the movement and gesture in performance using sensors and interfaces. I am also interested in how people move in common, everyday actions, as well as more absurdist, silly or playful movement. I collaborated with a graduate student Charlie Hoyt to create a mobile game called Shufflesition (2006). Shufflesition is a game that explores how a group of people can play, perform and interact using iPods with random sonic instructions. Instructions for how to move and interact with others are randomly shuffled and played on headphones, creating complex movement and spatial narratives. One person has a different set of instructions and when the other players figure this out they begin to copy his or her movement.

Description:
Up to six players form a group using the iPod shuffles and a handspeaker (supplied by the artists).  The players form three pairs, a red group, blue group and green group, based on the color of the LED on their handspeaker.  Each player/performer wears a pair of headphones that provide instructions for how they are to behave as the walk together in a group, as well as how they are to play the sounds out of the handspeaker.

The audio is comprised of abstract sounds inspired from animal and insect sounds.

Examples of instructions:
- Circle a participant of another color team, aiming the handspeaker at his or her head.  But not too close!
- As the following sounds play cup your free hand over the handspeaker and change the way it sounds.
- Hold the handspeaker high in the air!  Now take it down to your feet,
following the slope of the following tone.
- Walk on the perimeter of the group and play the following sounds out of the handspeaker, while avoiding one other color group.
- Hold the speaker on when you hear the tone. Let go when you don't.
- Play the handspeaker and quickly move around the group during the following sounds.

Audio Examples: ONE, TWO, THREE, FOUR, FIVE, SIX

Handspeaker:



Notes:
Requires enough room for the participants to walk around, perform and interact with each other.
Solo or shared site-  the piece can intermingle with other work or explore urban spaces or outdoor environments. Conceptualized as an outdoor performance/walk, however the piece can be performed in a large indoor space.
Volume level of piece-  Medium to Low
Power needs-  Six 9 volt batteries
Mac computer with iTunes for charging the Shuffles



Tag Shufflesition (2007)

Tag Shufflesition is a game-like implementation of a Shufflesition.  A Shufflesition is a mobile system for movement and dance.  Tag Shufflesition should have at least four players and as many players as possible.  The Shufflers (participants) receive random instructions from their iPods on how to move and interact with other Shufflers.  On one iPod is loaded a slightly different set of instructions. It is the task of the Shufflers to find out which Shuffler among them is “it” and begin to mimic “it’s” movements.  The game is complete when all of the Shufflers are correctly mimicking “it”.  Tag Shufflesition is engaging for both spectators and participants.



Presented at the Come Out & Play Festival in New York in Times Square and The SoundWalk Festival in Long Beach, California