VIX Sound+Light+Motion

This is your invitation to the 121212 Festival of Cyber-performance!

The retrospective section of the program “Walking Backwards into the Future” is already underway.

Schedule for these events here.

The portion that I am involved in is the new experimental works, Testing 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2 . Play the Moment – Shakti meets for a networked internet performance on the Waterwheel Tap.

I am working with Play the Moment – Shakti, a group of four women located in different cities.  This pioneering effort in experimental media arts includes Victoria Gibson (Vancouver, Canada), Jude Abrams (Toronto) and Sonia Paço-Rocchia (Montreal) creating music with Christina deRoos (Detroit, USA) manipulating the visuals.

We will be performing a piece called ‘excavating desire/fouilles pour le désire‘

Our stage is located on a website in Australia called Waterwheel and will be viewed through either this link or a link through the festival site Scroll down to find our show.

About the Show

Excavating Desire РFouilles pour le D̩sire

Play The Moment Shakti (Canada, USA)

11 December 10.30pm EST / 12 December 4.30pm New Zealand (find your local time)
12 December 1pm EST / 13 December 7.30am New Zealand (find your local time)

Excavating Desire is a free improvised audio and visual work in four movements:

1. On the Surface – exploring constraints imposed on female desire by society and ourselves
2. Digging Deep – recognizing our wants and needs
3. Gathering Courage – risking societal censure, economic loss or emotional pain requires resolve and strength
4. Flowering of Passion – acceptance and expression of our own inner identity

Four women going through the same risk and hardship of “Excavating Desire”.

Desires are often hidden underneath layers so we do not even recognize them ourselves. It is a risk to reveal our true self, particularly in personal and intimate situations, but also when revealing oneself as an artist. “Excavating Desire” provides a structure to peel away the layers of constraint and grant ourselves permission to express what we choose to see and hear as art.

Schedule and time zones

A handy time zone converter to find your viewing time can be found here.

These converter links can be found already programmed with the correct DST time under the title of the show in the spreadsheet.

For example the second  performance of our show is at 7:30am on Thursday, December 13th DST in New Zealand — the location of the 121212 festival, but it is Wednesday, December 12th at 10:30am PST, in Vancouver, Canada, where I live.

More information about the show can be foun by clicking the title of the show.

Facebook Event Page Here

This is a cool CD of spoken word and music featuring Mark Weber. I recorded some of the tracks at Waterlou Studios in Vancouver, Canada. More information about the CD, titled ‘the dalai lama’s alarm clock’ by clicking here.

zest-continuum-ruf angel from victoria gibson on Vimeo.

This video was shown in the Heritage Distillery District as part of the Toronto Nuit Blanche “DaDa Reboot” series curated by Thom Sokoloski on September 29, 2012.

This video was made to showcase my previous work with Joanna Gabler as part of “Rise Up, Fallen Angel”.

Joanna and I have a duo called “Zest Continuum” based on our collaboration of visuals and music.

My performance last Friday on water-wheel — the event was a solstice celebration.

Water-wheel.net is a performance platform developed in Australia by Suzon Fuks.

My ensemble, Play the Moment – Shakti has been accepted to perform, using this platform as part of the 121212 Festival of performing cyber-arts.

PtM РShakti members: Victoria Gibson, Jude Abrams, Sonia Pa̤o-Rocchia and Christina deRoos.

The festival will occur on December 12, 2012 . . .

If the link above is faulty go to:
http://water-wheel.net/media_items/view/1599

Here is the latest video I made to promote my campaign to raise funds. My lovely assistant and I explain the situation and ask for your donation on Indiegogo.

Go directly to my page on Indiegogo and donate — get fun perks too!

My problem with crowdsourcing of funds must be shared by many artists who do not have a mailing list of fans to call on — all of my friends are also artists with limited incomes. The idea of continuously begging for money from those who I know are struggling to produce their own work is not appealing.

A recent e-mail from Indiegogo giving advice to those attempting to raise funds in this way read in part:

Reach out to your closest friends and family to ask for their support. Aim to raise 25% of funds from this inner circle. This will help your campaign reach a tipping point.

I know that this will not occur, but I do plan to make a new video with a direct request for funds rather than just an example of the work. I have to be more direct with why I need the funds. In the next paragraph the encouraging letter explains:

It takes 7 contacts with someone before they will take action. Don’t be afraid to keep reaching out to your community to ask for their support.

I have worked in marketing and I hold a certificate from SFU in Social Media Marketing — this is not always true. If your cause really strikes a chord, the donor will give right away. If you are not hitting those notes, change your tactics before you try again. You risk alienating your contacts if you continuously present the same message in the same way. How many of you have shared a clever ad? The idea is to create a message that is effective and get it to people who can act on the message.

Now, I am looking to larger internet communities than my humble group of facebook friends. I have contacted Technorati and now I have pasted this code: ZBCU5MH7UZ6H into my blog, they will accept that I am the author and add it to their list of verified blogs.

I will add more ideas here as the days progress, but I really have to work on the show and make a living too. In some ways, if I had paying work it would be easier to pay for the trip myself, which is what I have been doing so far. However, since I want to be available to travel to present my work, and to have more time to create new pieces, the free-lance jobs I get keep me at subsistence level or below.

If you can, please visit my Indiegogo site to donate here and send Bandwdith: Interactive Installation to Staten Island on June 23rd for the Lumen Festival.

For more information about Bandwidth visit my portfolio site

Bandwidth: Interactive Installation has been selected to be shown at the Lumen Festival in Staten Island, NY!

My media art, Bandwidth has been selected for the Lumen Festival on June 23, 2012. They do not have the funding to support the artists, so I am asking you to assist.

If you are in NYC come to the show!

I am seeking funding through Indiegogo with fun perks.

See more information about Bandwidth on my portfolio site

It won’t happen without your help!

Please go to the IndieGoGo site and donate now.

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I am working on documenting the exhibit of my interactive exhibit, Bandwidth.

This is an excerpt from one of the clips, so I thought that I would create a one minute teaser for the longer video I am working on.

Denise McCarthy, the other artist exhibiting in the space, was talking to me during one of the performances.

I will finish this video and create one for “Rise Up, Fallen Angel” before the end of the month.

String Stories Video recorded, titled and posted to You Tube by Victoria G.

Working with my friend Paul Plimley is always a lot of fun!

This concert was part of the 2011 TD International Jazz Festival in Vancouver.

String Stories band members: Phil Emerson, guitar; Tommy Babin, bass and Paul Plimley, piano.

Taking the video was complicated by the fact that a camera person from a local television station had taken the spot that I had planned to set up in.

The back of the room was the next best and my new wide angle video lens really helped capture the whole stage.

The video is unedited, with audio from the camera, just title, render and upload!

Occupy Vancouver is my local chapter of a huge worldwide movement. I watched with interest the first week, then spent a Sunday afternoon on a committee working out a process to keep the general assembly organized and running smoothly. Then I volunteered in the clothing tent, helping to hand out needed warm clothing to protesters and disadvantaged individuals.

I have visited the site a few times and always witnessed peaceful, busy people building their homes. Food Not Bombs has been serving meals and many of Vancouver’s homeless population are better cared for than they have ever been. Remember that many people are living pay cheque to pay cheque and an interruption in their income can quickly lead to loosing their home. Homeless people are not always drug users or anti-social deviants, many are impoverished individuals who cannot find work.

A young woman died at the Occupy site — “a drug overdose victim”, reported the mainstream press. I don’t know if that is true, but I was saddened by this event. However, it it is not a justification to move against the protesters. I know that in Vancouver, most drug related deaths are not even reported, especially not as important news. There are too many of the hopeless people who turn to chemical comfort and find a final rest.

The atmosphere of the Occupy site reminds me of the “sit-ins”, “Be-ins” and other passive protests of my youth. One difference is the diversity of the protesters, as they range from babes to elders. I shudder to remember how those events usually ended with the authorities violently displacing the unarmed, peaceful crowd. I fear for the safety of the protesters. Once an injunction is granted in Vancouver, the politicians will move swiftly to remove the protesters before the upcoming election.

In my opinion, the Occupy Movement is not inciting revolution. It is representing a social evolution.

In North America, the population is literate and has access to the internet.

Although the attempts to “dumb down” the mainstream with television and pop tunes have generally met with success, the economic crisis has brought a sharper focus to society. More and more individuals who have suffered financial hardship because of the economic conditions imposed by corporate greed are reacting.

Members of the middle class, usually afraid to loose a comfortable lifestyle, usually in favour of maintaining the status quo that  supports them — now speak out.

In support of the Occupy Movement, I wrote and performed this poem, The Evolution is Being Televised.

The Evolution Is Being Televised – Victoria Gibson Nov3-2011

You can stay home people,
You can lock your doors, your windows, and your mind
But you will not be able to loose yourself cocooned in your media devices,
You will not be able to ignore the movement occupying our streets
A social evolution that is taking the temperature of our times
Because the evolution is being televised

The evolution is being televised
Brought to you on the eleven o’clock news
by those who would dismiss the dissatisfaction of the population.
The evolution is being televised
Brought to you on the internet from cameras and phones
by those who would insist on the message getting through.
Social evolution on a screen near you
The evolution is being televised

Work to find solutions on the scale of our problems,
Direct democracy with a human microphone amplifying the message,
Dare to join the general assembly of citizens,
Raise your hand
Against an economic system built on colonialism.
Raise your hand
Against inequality and corporate greed.
Raise your hand
Here your vote will be counted.
Raise your hand in agreement
and hear “we have consensus”.
The evolution is being televised

There can be no democracy when politicians are in the pockets of the corporations,
Using fear to perpetuate all forms of oppression,
Rejecting responsibility for the destruction of the environment.
The spin doctors use damage control on the crisis of the day.
Political pundits seek individual representatives of a movement that is run on consensus.
The evolution is being televised

When those who vote have no control over our nations,
Those who vote assemble in the streets.
When those who vote seek action on their problems,
Those who vote assemble in the streets.
The diversity of our population young and old together,
All have been cheated of economic security and opportunity,
All have witnessed the continued degradation of our environment,
All seekers of freedom live in fear of brutal suppression,
While assembling bravely in the street looking for a brighter day.

The evolution is being televised, being televised, being televised
The evolution requires your imagination
The evolution is streaming live.

Contact: Victoria Gibson

See my song: Government of the Canadian People written before the last Canadian election.