Theatre Intangible

Columbus Experimental Haven Fuse Factory Launches IndieGoGo for Frequency Fridays

Circuit-Bending, Concerts, Visual Arts No Responses »

Feb 202014

Artist Kyle Evans flexes a tube-accordion at Fuse Factory

Columbus, Ohio is incredibly lucky to have Fuse Factory, a lab promoting new media, sound art and experimental music. The lab hosts workshops such as last year’s Learning About the Oscilloscope Through Binaural Beats, organizes performances from artists like Truus de Groot, Tim Kaiser, Becky Grajeda, Jessica Speer, Paul Metzger, Roth Mobot and Tatsuya Nakatani, curates new media art shows, and puts on the Columbus Circuit Benders’ Ball, an offshoot of the Nashville Circuit Benders’ Ball.

Fuse Factory is now funding their primary performance series Frequency Fridays through IndieGoGo. Support experimental art in Columbus, Ohio and throw in some cash.

2014 Nashville Circuit Benders’ Ball Kickstarter now LAUNCHED!

Circuit Benders Ball, Circuit-Bending, Fort Houston No Responses »

Feb 182014

Patrick from Roth Mobot helps Brandon bend a guitar pedal at the 2012 Ball. Photo by Ryan Schemmel.

We just launched the 2014 Circuit Benders’ Ball Kickstarter. Help us bring artists from around the world!

We’re also seeking business partners to sponsor the Ball. Official sponsors get a “sponsored by” credit on all posters, press materials, websites and social messaging sites. Sponsors can also subsidize individual workshops and presentations. If your company is interested, contact me at tony@theatreintangible.com.

Thursday Tough Call: Bruce Baillie Shorts at Third Man or Chancellor Warhol, Benton C. Bainbridge and Jonathon Kingsbury at Oz

Concerts, Visual Arts No Responses »

Feb 182014

I’m torn. Thursday, February 20th features at least two must-see events in Nashville, and they overlap.

At 5:30 p.m., the swanky new art space Oz will host the very first “Thursday Night Things,” a series of art collaborations. This one features the immensely-talented musician Chancellor Warhol performing his new album in its entirety and collaborating with Theatre Intangible and Circuit Benders’ Ball participant Benton C. Bainbridge and filmmaker and Fort Houston founding member Jonathan Kingsbury. What will it be like? Since Jonathan runs a photo-booth company and Benton has been prototyping a video portraits system, I expect it may involve portraits of the audience. But who knows? What I do know is it’s your only chance to see Benton Bainbridge in the foreseeable future. Now that he’s moved back in New York City, he’s busy making art, directing music videos and vj-ing at One Step Beyond at the American Museum of Natural History.

“Thursday Night Things” is scheduled to run until 7:45 p.m., which means you’ll have to choose between it and the 7 p.m. screening of Bruce Baillie: Cinema of the Senses at Third Man Records’ The Light & Sound Machine. This is heartbreaking because series director James Cathcart called the retrospective “perhaps the program I’ve been most proud to present.” More from the press release: “Despite having been a cornerstone of the emerging cinematic avant-garde of the 1960’s—as well as a co-founder of Canyon Cinema and the San Francisco Cinematheque—Bruce Baillie has escaped recognition from all but the most committed film enthusiasts and scholars. His oft-imitated, rarely paralleled style of sensuous, nature-tethered cinema has inspired generations of filmmakers, most recently 2010 Palme d’Or winner Apichatpong Weerasethakul. This program presents seven of Baillie’s rarely screened masterpieces from his most fruitful period.” Film Comment columnist Chuck Stephens will introduce the show.

As if the choice isn’t hard enough, you also have Greg Bryant, Paul Horton and Justin Cromer performing at F Scotts and Body of Light, French Lips, Dr. Jungle Cat and Commitment Bells performing at The East Room.

Oh Nashville, sometimes I hate you. But I love you. But I hate you. But I love you…

Call for Participants: No Media at Noa Noa and Glitch Art Show at Track One

Concerts, Making, Visual Arts, Wedgewood/Houston, Where to find Nashville avant-garde No Responses »

Feb 182014

Chicago new media artists Nick Briz and Jon Satrom will be in Nashville February 28th through March 3rd for a Watkins College visiting artist series. While they’re in town, Watkins professor Morgan Higby-Flowers is curating two off-campus shows featuring the artists. And he’s looking for collaborators.

The first show is a NO MEDIA event on Friday, February 28th at 7:30 p.m. here at Theatre Intangible headquarters aka Noa Noa house. NO MEDIA is, as its website states, “an open improvisational realtime/performance media art event.” By “open,” they mean ANYONE can participate, including you. All types of expression are welcome, including music making, acting, dance, singing, visual art, poetry, storytelling, puppetry, etc.

Here’s how it works. When you arrive, you put your name in a hat. The hosts then draw three names. If your name is called, you have two minutes to prepare. Then you perform for 10 minutes with your two randomly-chosen collaborators. This is repeated until all the names are drawn. No documentation is allowed. It happens once and in realtime.

What makes this particular NO MEDIA event special is the fact that NO MEDIA co-creator Nick Briz will be performing alongside the locals. If you use Facebook, you can find out more on the Facebook event page. If you’re interested in performing, contact Morgan at mhigbyflowers@gmail.com.

The second show is glitch media show happening at the Track One warehouse during the March 1st Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston. At 9 p.m. the warehouse will transform into a massive multimedia experience. The show will explore digital culture, glitch art, hacking, remix culture, and experimental new media. Morgan is seeking Nashville electronic and experimental musicians and video-makers to perform. Here’s the Facebook event page. If you’re interested in performing, contact Morgan at mhigbyflowers@gmail.com. Make sure you specify which event you’re applying for.

Incidentally, there’s another great event happening earlier that night in the same space. From 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m., Carl Oliver will perform a longform modular synth improv. What makes this especially cool is that he will be performing in the center of a HUGE empty warehouse. The natural reverb is going to be out of this world. I’ll write more about this closer to the date, but in the meantime, check out the Facebook event page.

The two Nick Briz / Jon Satrom events are part of RipZipRarLANd, a four-day series sponsored by Watkins College. The series also features lectures, workshops and a gallery opening. Check out the full schedule on, you guessed it, the Facebook event page.

Jon Satrom undermines interfaces, problematizes presets, and bends data. He spends his days fixing things and making things work. He spends his evenings breaking things and searching for the unique blips inherent to the systems he explores and exploits.

Nick Briz is a new-media artist, educator and organizer whose work has been shown internationally at festivals and institutions and is openly and freely available on the web.

RipZipRARLANd is a utopic local area network inspired by experimental new-media art, located in Middle Tennessee, EVERYWHERE (192.168.0.x). A time-space constructed of old new-media memories floating within–once free/open–networks and contemporary ethics of openness and sharing.

As [users/artists] we consider ourselves [creators/producers], however, in the eyes of contemporary (networked) corporations, we are the product being sold for billions of dollars. These wide-spread software-as-service models don’t trade in their technology as much as they trade in humans. SoftwARE iz Humans…

RipZipRARLANd’s piratical inhabitants employ messy and dirty experimental processes. Their digital practices have grown out of the infinite copy-ability of data and inevitable decay of digital media. They hack, reclaim, remix and share in an effort to promote and preserve a genre/medium/culture.

Come celebrate experimental new-media art, glitch art, GIF culture, piratical practices, and creative problem creating.

NO MEDIA
Friday, February 28th, 7:30 p.m., free
@ Noa Noa (house)
620 Hamilton Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203

LightJazz
Saturday, March 1st, 9 p.m., free
@ Track One during Arts & Music @ Wedgewood/Houston
410 Chestnut Street, Nashville, TN 37203