090909 UpStage Festival

From 2pm New Zealand time on 09 September 2009 – 20 hours of live shows will be presented in the 3rd annual UpStage festival of online performance.

The 090909 UpStage Festival proudly presents 13 live online performances (cyberformances) which have been devised by artists traversing 9 different time zones. Audiences can watch these performances online, or attend 'real life' (RL) access nodes – physical venues in ten locations around the world. The full schedule is online at www.upstage.org.nz.

The performances address a variety of themes in diverse genres. A near drowning unites the cities of New York and Venice in Salvation; a fairytale princess is corrupted by a lifetime of unchecked power and narcissism in Snow White and the Seven Chihuahuas; the butterfly effect infiltrates a virtual kitchen in The Dish; and a group of children retell a traditional Maori tale in Maui and the Sun. Audiences fall into the entropy of a black hole in Open Experimental Zone and encounter the random and meaningless nature of polite conversation in At Home with Mr and Mrs Smith. These are just a few of the offerings presented as part of the 090909 UpStage Festival.

UpStage is a web-based platform that enables people anywhere in the world to participate in live online performances, created in real time by geographically dispersed performers. Audiences interact through a text chat tool. The players use images, audio, video and text to create the performances, operating “avatars” – graphical characters that move and speak aloud. The performances are accessible to anyone with an internet connection and browser.

The 090909 UpStage Festival follows on from the successes of the 070707 and 080808 UpStage Festivals.  All performances are live-to-web, but audiences can also attend 'real life' access nodes: this year physical venues are provided in Wellington (NZ), Munich (Germany), Oslo (Norway), Graz (Austria), Nantes (France), Istanbul (Turkey), Eindhoven (Netherlands), Surrey (BC, Canada), Calgary (Canada) and Pancevo (Serbia).

The artists involved range from veteran networked performers such as members of The Plaintext Players (Europe/USA) and ActiveLayers (NZ/UK/USA/Australia), to artists working in the online medium for the first time; the youngest is ten years old.

The full list of performances, artists, performance times and RL access nodes is on the UpStage web site: www.upstage.org.nz. Live links to the stages will be accessible from the UpStage web site on 09 September; online audiences just need to click the link to attend!

The 090909 UpStage Festival is supported by Creative New Zealand. UpStage is supported on an ongoing basis by CityLink and Auckland University of Technology.

090909 UpStage Festival Preview from UpStage on Vimeo.