photo: Bob Raymond
sixty_six_events was a global, happening which took place over the space of 24 hours on Thursday January 21st from 00:00 to 23:59, organized and masterminded by the intrepid (and tireless) composers Matthew Lee Knowles and Andy Ingamells of the UK.
I had participated in several of Matthew's happenings in the past including the precursor to sixty_six_events, six events in six days wherein participants from around the world, chose one or more of the sequential six days with an accompanying event to perform and document and send to Matthew who then put together a public exhibit in London using all the documentation that was submitted.
When Matthew and Andy put out the call for sixty_six_events (events being what I think of as "actions"), I decided to put together two sets of open videotapings/performances at Mobius: one from 11:30am until 12:30pm to catch hopefully an eager lunch crowd, and the other from 8:30 to 9:30pm to gather the after work crowd. I even put out a call to the Banditos Misteriosos, a local to Boston group of flash happening meisters but never heard back.
As it turned out, perhaps there was some confusion in my call about whether this was a performance or a participatory event or what the heck was this? And maybe also some confusion about having two time slots.
And I must confess that I was uncertain how to organize these videotapings - the sixty_six_events are divided up into four hour increments - which works out to 11 events per 4 hour increment which is a lot to try to document in 30 minutes.
I decided ahead of time to pick a few events and try to concentrate on videotaping those, and depending on how many people showed up, wrangle people in to do one event together, perhaps have a timed "do any event you want which is part of the current time slot", and perhaps other options which I had yet to think of. By the time January 21st rolled around, I thought only Bob, Cathy and I would be at the morning session and who knew, maybe up to 8 or more people at the evening session - so I prepared for both sessions going on that assumption.
The morning videotapings and performances took place at Mobius, outside on Harrison Ave and inside Las Ventas, a wonderful Spanish delicatessan and gourmet grocery shop and back and, happily, via Skype, New Hampshire (at a public library). I used two ultra flip videocameras, one with HD (really faux HD but has the glamourous film aspect ratio) and one without just to give me a few options for editing or viewing and because I thought it would be a fun experiment to try using two types of cameras.
Participants:
Cathy Nolan Vincevic via skype
Bob Raymond (see if you can catch his reflection in the monitors)
Sandy Huckleberry
aj
#1. "Shout the first and last pages of a book"
I particularly solicited Cathy Nolan Vincevic to Skype in from the public library in New Hampshire where she works as a librarian. I thought perhaps some of her patrons might enjoy it as well - a kind of celebrations of books in high gear and volume.
Updated 2/1/2010: I added subtitles to the conversation between Cathy and myself (near the end of the Part 1. clip) and replaced the original version with the subtitled version. It was difficult to understand exactly what we were saying to each other since we ostensibly *trying* to "whisper":
Shout the first and last pages of a book. Part 1 - with Cathy, aj and Bob
Cathy: this is hysterical! I love how I'm practically screaming and you can barely hear me!! *ahahha* and THEN the bit about the patron..*!!!
Shout the first and last pages of a book. Part 2 HD - with Cathy, Sandy, aj, Bob
Shout the first and last pages of a book. Part 2 - with Cathy, Sandy, aj, Bob
William Evertson: "Wow, nice visual"
Nathan Andary: "reverberation, echo (visual/audio/multi-sensory)...i like the AJ cough, memory, time, reflection, refraction of the mind's voices/thoughts"
Related facebook conversations:
aj: sometimes it's really embarrassing watching oneself in a video - it confirms what you suspected and feared all along - you are indeed a dork
William Evertson: Try a Clint Eastwood sneer for the next one. ;-) Regardless- you don't look like a dork from this end.
Shizu Homma: tell me about it. I particularly am always shocked by my high pitched voice
David Chin: yeah. i can't watch myself. i could barely listen to my own voice lessons.
#2. "Eat a cloud."
Eat a cloud. - Sandy Huckleberry
aj: sandy eats some yummy things
Cathy: oh man...some of that is hard to watch!!!!
Cathy: I can feel that cotton in my mouth...*eww* and the cardboardy stuff...*shivers*
Andy: haha ... this is brilliant! if you want 'hard to watch' then have a look at my 'think about your coming prince' video. sooooooooo embarrassing!
#3. "Strip a newspaper." + "Draw an arrow pointing to a page."
Strip a newspaper. + Draw an arrow point to a page. HD - Cathy, aj, Bob
Strip a newspaper. + Draw an arrow pointing to a page. - Cathy, aj, Bob
Note on two cameras' perspectives: HD version reveals more of what was happening at Mobius, non-HD version reveals more of what was happening at the library.
Cathy created a beautiful installation from the strips of newspaper but sadly we weren't able to document it well from our end (too much glare and we ran into a technical snafu when Cathy tried to send us a freeze frame via Skype).
Mat: :-D
Cathy: I love the clock everywhere...it's so...I don't know....strangely anal (psychologically speaking)
I didn't know Jane was going the draw the arrow pointing to a page part...and it is wonderful!
and the video coating black into process and out again...I'm very interested in this business of being in the skype box.
#4. "Buy something and wear it."
Buy something and wear it. - Sandy Huckleberry and the folks at Las Ventas
aj: Sandy must have been hungry....
Cathy: well, she had her roughage earlier....now for some protein!
Cathy: beautiful necklace!
Cathy: it would have been a nice tiara too!
Mat: wow! that's pretty powerful! I used food for this event as well, but not as beautifully worn as this!
Sandy: ... and it made a great hors d'ouevres, later. (Helped to wash down all those clouds...)
David Miller: Hah, I didn't -think- there were any clothing stores or thrift shops near Mobius! Another contribution to the edible art genre.
#5. "Count the bricks in a building without guessing."
Count the bricks in a building without guessing. - aj
aj: OCB - give in to it
Cathy: YES!!!
Mat: again - I absolutely LOVE this!!!!
Liz Roncka: i am loving the clock in all the photos [stills from video]. weird what grabs one's attention. u all r fabu as well, of course.
Note: Coincidentally, one of the books Cathy shouted in the first event taped alluded to Obsessive Compulsive Behavior.
Photo album by Bob Raymond of sixty_six_events @Mobius
