Avatar Orchestra Metaverse

Project description

Global collective of artists creating and presenting in the 3D platform Second Life.

A group of composers, artists and musicians spread through three continents meet in a networked virtual world. There, together as avatars, they design and play otherworldly instruments while experimenting with identity, perception, telepathy and collectivity. The instruments control movement, sounds, and the release of particles and textures that give visual indications of sounds made independently by individual players in real time. There is no streaming involved – the performance is created completely within the networked 3-D environment Second Life.

Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM), formed in March, 2007, is a globally dispersed collective of composers, musicians and media artists working in the virtual online environment Second Life. AOM investigates and exposes new possibilities for developing audiovisual works that challenge conventional practices of creating, performing and listening to music.

With members spread over 3 continents, AOM explores the nuances of identity and the communicative possibilities that are opened through real time telematic connection within a virtual audiovisual environment. Within AOM, a new kind of listening is unfolded; inviting subtle yet powerful mind connections made audible within a rich and wildly varying sonic world. AOM’s 'instruments' are created within the Second Life environment, making it possible for each performer in the Orchestra to trigger sounds independent from one another and to play together in real time. These instruments feature sounds, visuals, and animations. A performance of a jumping, hovering, floating and twirling Avatar Orchestra Metaverse is a truly spectacular event.

AOM creates and performs with a dedicated core of 8 to 12 members located in Europe, North America and Asia. The group performs from Second Life for virtual and mixed reality events at new media, music and visual arts centers. Hosted by curators and collaborators at centers across the globe, AOM has created and performed over a range of audiovisual works screened live at music and media events, festivals and screened in cinema and on television internationally. 

Composers represented include Bjorn Eriksson (Sweden), Leif Inge (Norway), Andreas Mueller, Johannes Riedmann and Harald Muenz (Germany), Shintaro Miyazaki (Switzerland), Biagio Franca (Italy), Viv Corringham, Norman Lowrey, Pauline Oliveros and Tim Rischer (USA); and Tina Pearson, Erik Rzepka, Liz Solo and Jeremy Owen Turner (Canada). AOM also collaborates with musicians performing in mixed reality settings, such as the ensemble Tinntinnabulate (Troy, USA), Franziska Schroeder (Belfast), Christine Duncan and Anne Bourne (Toronto); Kathy Kennedy (Montreal), Catherine Fern Lewis (Victoria), Ryan Siegan Smith and Ayaka Okutsu (Berlin) among others. One of the Orchestra's initiators, musicologist and media researcher Dr. Shintaro Miyazaki, was intrigued enough to write his thesis about it (Social Music–Second Life as a Medium for Networked Art), and subsequently, Dr. Gema Fernández-Blanco Martín’s thesis (Creative processes in immersive musical environments), based on the Orchestra, included extensive documentation of AOM members and events.

For more information about the project, visit the archive website.

Lessons learned

It is possible to share a deep sense of connection, creation, exploration and compassion through collaborative, cooperative, virtual connections across disciplines, cultures, nationalities and languages.Working successfully in digital and networked technologies requires dedication, patience, a huge amount of flexibility, resilience, and the ability to think very far outside the boxes of practice, form, dissemination.Things can change quickly and deeply. Be prepared!

Project community 

Avatar Orchestra Metaverse was created with and for composers, sound and media artists and designers to experiment with creating within Second Life. It specifically intended, and still intends, to create all of its instruments inside this virtual world, and is the only such group that we know of who isn't just streaming outside sounds into a networked platform. Audiences are varied - academic, conferences, media festivals, social gatherings around the world, music concerts and festivals …

Additional organizations or people involved

Current members:

Björn Eriksson (Sweden), Tina M. Pearson (Canada), Norman Lowrey (USA), Leif Inge (Norway), Frieda Kuterna (Belgium), Max D. Well (Germany), Viv Corringham (UK/USA), Johannes Riedmann (Germany), Chris Wittkowsky (Germany), Brenda Hutchinson (USA), Gema FB Martín (Spain), Harald Muenz (Germany), Dani Williamson (Israel/Germany).

Former members and collaborators include:

Pauline Oliveros (late) (USA), Jeremy Owen Turner (Canada), Andreas Mueller (Germany), Biagio Franca (Italy), Tim Risher (USA), Sachiko Hiyashi (Sweden), Liz Solo (Canada), Stelarc (Australia), among others.

For questions on this project, please contact Tina Pearson, one of the group's representatives.

Organization name: Avatar Orchestra MetaverseWebsite: https://avatarorchestra.blogspot.com/ 

Launch date: March 1, 2007 (ongoing project)

Relevant fields of practice: Digital Arts; Inter-Arts; Media Arts; Multidisciplinary Activities; Music and Sound; Visual Arts

Additional Keywords: avatar orchestra metaverse; second life; virtual performance;networked performance; networked collective; virtual instruments; visual music

Total Budget: Mostly a volunteer-run project / Less than $50,000

Funding Type and Partnerships: Federal; members fund ongoing operations; periodic small grants; fees for presenting; commissions

This note is part of interConnect, a collaborative inquiry into digital transformation. If you are the content owner or the organization concerned and would like to take control of ownership of the note, write to IMAA at info@imaa.ca.