ian winters

Description:
Geared toward performance makers, visual artists and musicians interested in exploring new media tools, the Extended Now workshop with Ian Winters explores technical and compositional strategies for integrating live and interactive media in performance and site-specific installation, and investigate the political implications of technology use in the contemporary performance landscape. Our time is split between the development of technical skills and creating short site-specific interventions, installations and performances, culminating in a Sunday evening workshop performance for students and invited guests.
The technical aspects of the workshop focus on the use of Isadora as a software tool to easily integrate recorded & live visual imagery / video, lighting, sound and sensor information as core parts of physical performance, dance and installations. Depending on student interest / needs we may also work with Max/MSP, Processing, and the creation of simple physical electronics and sensor driven performance using Arduino. Included as a part of the workshop will be a private consultation with Ian to review your project.
On the compositional side a few questions / thoughts inform the workshop: How long is now? What happens when the now of performance is extended through image, sound, light, and repetition / amplification / contrast? What does interaction mean in a sensor-driven world and where does the ‘interaction’ occur? How can these tools extend choreography beyond the body to ideas of attention and experience? What kinds of compositional strategies / tools / scores can be used to work across divergent media? Where is the body in all of this? What is the lowest tech way to proceed?
Dates: Saturday June 10th through Thursday June 15th, 2017
Application deadline: April 19th, 2017
Notifications: April 26th, 2017
Application fee: $15
Workshop fees: $1000 private room w shared bath; $1250 private room and bath.
Special couples rate: $700 each (shared room/bed)
Includes all lodging, all food, and local transportation from and to the San Francisco Airport. Also included are use of workshop equipment (see below), a workshop software license and professional documentation of the workshop showing.
Application Process:
Applications for the workshop can be accessed through this link: https://djerassi.slideroom.com/#/login/program/32779
or by clicking on the APPLY button on the top left of this page.
Application materials requested:
• 2017 Ian Winters Workshop Application Form
• Up to 300 words about what you hope to gain from this workshop, a prospective project that you may want to undertake, and a brief description of your experience working with video / technology / performance
• A work-sample: two video links of recent work or up to 6 stills if video is not available.
• A short bio or CV (up to 2 pages)

What to Expect:
The creative possibilities at the intersections of visual & sonic media, physical performance, and installation have been transformed over the past ten years by the explosion of inexpensive sensors, control software, and live processing. The Extended Now workshop explores how to meaningfully integrate those possibilities into the compositional process through a combination of hands-on practical skills, and making your own short installations and performances on-site in the fantastic Djerassi landscape.
Participants will arrive with ideas for a specific project they would like to create on-site at Djerassi and detailed before hand in a one to two paragraph description. The workshop time will be split between the development of technical skills with an emphasis on how to use live video / sound / sensors with Isadora and using that knowledge to create short site-specific interventions in and around the Djerassi landscape and buildings.

Each day will be split between a skills workshop, work / compositional time, and sharing work. Sunday evening culminates with a private showing of work by participants for a small number of invited friends and family. We will be having the final Sunday evening showing professionally documented so that participants can all leave with a solid record of their accomplishments to aid in further developing their projects.

On the technical side the specifics of what we cover in the workshop will be driven by participant interests, but, the basics include a beginning / intermediate workshop in Isadora covering:
• The basics of media control / playback,
• Compositing and mapping video & sound onto screens and surfaces in space
• Working with interactive controls & data sources such as motion/acoustic triggering, physical sensors, and mobile phone data
• Setting up more complex patches and data structures and sharing data between other programs such as Abelton Live, Processing sketches, Q-lab, etc.
In addition, we will be building a few simple, cheap physical computing tools such as touch and motion sensors to help demystify the world of hardware. Other key elements include working with projectors, cameras, and audio interfaces.

Suggested background: professional or advanced undergraduate background in performance/dance/theater, visual/media art, video or sound. No programming experience is required.
Equipment provided: There will be ~ 6 projectors available for student projects and a set-up for 3-channel projection; a remote power set-up for working with visual / sound material in the field; audio, DMX and midi interfaces; an assortment of sensors and other interactive devices, basic lighting / sound system and other tools; and a workshop license of Isadora courtesy of Troikatronix

Required equipment: a computer capable of running Isadora, Max/MSP or Processing.

Suggested equipment: a camera, sound recorder, any special tools you want to work with.

A note from Ian about the workshop:
The time I’ve spent at residencies and intensive workshops have been some of the productive and inspired periods of my creative life. Djerassi offers a truly unique opportunity to work in fantastic natural surroundings with no distractions beyond your work itself. The opportunity to teach in this environment is an incredibly special gift I’m delighted to share with workshop participants.
In addition, commitments as visual and media designer in past two years have limited the amount of teaching I’ve been able to do — which I find I truly miss. I can’t imagine a better opportunity to share my professional knowledge of both compositional practice and the hands-on practical knowledge from shows and installations

Testimonials:

Elaine Buckholtz (Associate Professor, Studio for Interrelated Media, Mass College of Art):
“I have know Ian for more than 10 years and have worked with him as a collaborator on many projects that interface Lighting Design and Video Installation. I have also worked with Ian on my own Large scale Video Installations that require a level of expertise far surpassing my own ability. Ian is an incredibly knowledgeable and inspiring person to wrk with both technically and aesthetically. Over the years I have had him visit several of my seminars at Mass Art in Boston in the Studio for Interrelated Media.
He is an excellent teacher and inspiring artist and he always leaves the students with a much deeper understanding of the technical aspects of video installation. I have also organized seminars and taken part in them myself with Ian as the teacher. Anyone who is fortunate enough to study with Ian walks away with a huge new basket of skills and an engaging and inspiring experience!!”

Nina Haft (Assistant Professor of Dance, CSU East Bay):
“I have been amazed at how much I learn in Ian’s workshops. He explains advanced concepts in terms that make sense to me as a director and choreographer new to the technology, while keeping a mixed level group with experienced designers also engaged. He has a great way of skill building that brings our ideas into play from the start. Ian has opened my eyes – and my work – to wonderful new avenues of composition and collaboration. He is the ‘yes we can’ that you’ve been waiting for!”

Debbie Kajiyama and Jose Navarette (Co-Directors, Navarette X Kajiyama dance):
“Ian’s workshops are brilliant! We have taken them multiple times and have always benefitted from his depth of experience, his patience, and his ability to strike the perfect balance between explaining concepts and hands-on experimentation. Most of all he is passionate about what he does, and his enthusiasm is contagious!”

Bio:

Ian Winters is an award winning video & media artist working at the intersections of physical performance, installations / architectural form, and time-based media based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition to individual work he often collaborates with composers, directors, and choreographers to create both staged and site-specific media environments through performance, visual and acoustic media.
Recent awards include Creative Work Fund, Rainin and Zellerbach foundation funding, residencies at Djerassi, Sussex University, and Earthdance, 2013 and 2014 ISEA panelist on sensor driven and network performance, Leonardo LASER presentations, 2012 & 2014 LAD awards for video design, and 2012,13,14 Isadora Duncan Award nominations for best visual design. In addition he teaches workshops in interactive video / sound, and has been a visiting artist / conference presenter in media & performance at many institutions including USF, SF State, MIT, Mass Art, LSU, Amherst, Duke, Brighton, Sussex, CCA & Brunel.
He studied video, performance and photography at the SMFA-Boston and Tufts University, with post- graduate training in architecture and live performance.

Recent video and media design collaborations include work with Myra Melford, Robert Moses Kin, Francis Ford Coppola, Shotgun Players, ALICE Arts, Chitresh Das, Pamela Z, Mary Armentrout Dance Theater, Shadowlight Puppet Theater, Makrokosma Bali/Gamelan Sekar Jaya, DSDT, ODC Dance, Lenora Lee Dance, ALICE Arts, Evelyn Ficarra and many others.

His work (either solo or as a video/media designer) has been seen at many venues including Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Zero-1 Gallery, ODC, Z-Space, The Asian Art Museum, Center for New Music-SF, The Kitchen, EMPAC, London City University, the Port of Oakland, Attenborough Centre for the Arts (Sussex University), The Luggage Store, Moscow Conservatory Electro-acoustic Center, Journées de l’électroacoustique: Paris, Mass Art, London Cutting Edge Festival, OPEN Cinema Festival (RU), CounterPULSE, CNMAT, Highways, 21 Grand, Shotgun Players, The Magic, Luckman Center for Arts (LA).