ATOM-r : (anatomical theatres of mixed reality)

https://www.facebook.com/atomrmixedreality Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-R) is a collective exploring 21st century embodiment through performance, poetics and emerging technologies. The work mixes the live body with ubiquitous computing through an implementation of Augmented Reality (AR) in which virtual content is overlaid onto bodies and spaces. Formed in 2012, the group evolves from a decade of collaboration between Writer and Digital Artist, Judd Morrissey, and Performance Artist and Choreographer, Mark Jeffery, who were previously members of Goat Island Performance Group. Performing members, who contribute to the conceptualization and creation of work, include Justin Deschamps and Christopher Knowlton. ATOM-r was conceived when its co-founders encountered the architectural form of early modern anatomical theatres, small amphitheaters built for viewing human autopsies and surgical procedures. The collective uses this architecture symbolically to explore the altered and technologically augmented body, to dissect queer histories, and reveal embodied personal narratives. Their first work, The Operature, juxtaposed an exploration of the early history of surgery with The Stud File of Samuel Steward, a 20th century autobiographical card catalogue of outlawed homosexual experiences with forensic samples including photographs and body hair. Steward’s work under the alias of the tattoo artist, Phil Sparrow, was recreated as a series of temporary tattoos that could be recognized by a smart phone app to generate content in augmented reality. ATOM-r’s process rigorously integrates historical, scientific and site-based research as well as software development, requiring a period of 2-3 years to complete a work. Dedicated to reanimating queer histories, the collective engages with human subjects including Samuel Steward, Alan Turing, and Derek Jarman. As a group, we are exploring gay and transgender bodies as well as theoretical constructions of the posthuman through our process of making. ATOM-r (Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality) is a provisional collective exploring forensics, anatomy, and 21st century embodiment through performance, language, and emerging technologies. The work is interdisciplinary and evolves through large-scale projects with long durations of research and practice that generate outputs across a range of platforms including Internet art, augmented reality, site specific installation, choreographed movement, books, and objects.

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ATOM-r’s use of Augmented Reality with out recents works Kjell Theøry (2017) and The Beautiful Holy Jewel Home of the Original Rhinestone Cowboy that shows our use of how we mix together the real and augmented reality at The Victoria and Albert Museum in London and Malborough Theatre and Pub in Brighton 

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Queering Ritual: (Call). Performances and Provocations 3rd & 4th November 2017 York St John University, UK

ATOM-r (Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality). Gary and Claire. Roberta Mock. Kimberly Campanello.

&& 10 minute provocations invited by open call (see below):

We identify with the term queering ritual in relation to a fluid heterogeneous attitude toward performance making and the practice and aesthetics of contemporary, multidisciplinary performance work. Queering ritual is also a lens in which to think through the composition of materials to create hybrid, subversive, augmented and indeterminate bodies, subjects, and territories. We consider the terms queering ritual as the structured recontextualising of pre-existing material.  We propose queering as an expansive act and ritual as a return to an act through invocation, repetition, coded iteration, sacrifice, submission, custom, and rule formation. We consider the terms separately queering/ritual and together as a practice that embodies the form and content of a performance via the writing, shaping, and dramaturgy of a work. We draw upon ATOM-r’s performance  Kjell Theøry that juxtaposes the writings of Alan Turing—a gay twentieth century computing pioneer with Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1917 play The Breasts of Tiresias and we think through the practices and subversive hybrid performance personas of Gary and Claire’s performance Lost in A Sea of Glass and Tin that examines the ghosting rituals of a fan base and the ‘ducks eye view’ of five David Lynch movies and consider how Lynch queers psychoanalysis.

SCHEDULE (times TBD)

November 3 Evening performances of ATOM-r (Kjell Theøry) and Gary and Claire (Lost in A Sea of Glass and Tin) November 4 Keynote address by Roberta Mock (Professor, Performance Studies, University of Plymouth) Invited provocations on the theme Queering Ritual. Chaired by Dr Kimberly Campanello (Poet & Lecturer in Creative Writing, York St John).

OPEN CALL FOR PROVOCATIONS:

Would you like to be involved?

Queering Ritual is seeking proposals for 10 minute provocations in the forms or interforms of live performance, poetry, electronic writing, real-time media, augmented reality, film, participatory event, academic paper, experimental lecture, other.

The provocations should be composed/written/made with the term Queering Ritual in mind either together as a phrase, or separately Queering/Ritual.  The call for provocations is open to those interested in performance making and/or composition/intertextual/intermedia practices (whether you are a maker or a theorist or both). We seek interventions that:

●      Address queer histories and identities or engage rituals of queer subcultures

●      Construct ecologies of diversity and re-draw cuts and boundaries between subjects, genders, mediums and materialities; between the individual and the group, the human and nonhuman, nature and culture. 

●      Invent, appropriate, hybridize, or subvert ceremonies, protocols, or systems

●      Use language, code, augmentation or virtuality to invoke queer poetic/embodied/spatiotemporal experiences 

●      Engage queer performativity through the lenses of art, science, literature, dance, theatre, history or theory

You may wish to consider the following creative prompts:

How do you suspend a queer complexity?

How do you rake, harrow, rip and tear into your practice?

How do you channel the undead of information?

How do you tremble, shake and stumble through a ritual dance of delayed and accelerated actions?

How do sensors and algorithms create hidden rituals of automation?

Who is the stripling that will tease apart a site of grief?

Chosen provocations will need to stick to the 10 minute time limit, will be supported with very basic technical needs and will most likely take place in the same space, so please think simply when forming your proposal to us.

Rules for writing the provocation proposal:

If you have an idea for a provocation and you can attend the event on 3rd and 4th November 2017 please email a 150 word (max) proposal to Claire Hind [email protected]  along with a short written bio (max of 150 words). If you do have a web link to previous work or documentation please include in your proposal but avoid sending large files via email. Word documents preferred and include name and contact details on the proposal.

We can only look at proposals within that word count and we can only select a very small handful of provocations, therefore please send proposals to Claire by 21st July 2017.

Tickets for the event will be advertised later in the year, for now this is a save a date and a provocation call but if you want to attend do email me [email protected]

Best wishes

Claire Hind

Associate Professor, Drama and Theatre, York St John University

IMAGE: Axel Hoedt 

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KJELL ØR THEY A Film by Julia Pello and Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-r)

Atom-r re-images Kjell Theøry as if it were remembering a forgotten theatrical production, and juxtaposes the writing of Alan Turing with Guillaume Apollinaire’s algorithmic mutations to present an augmented reality. Visually stunning and poetic, “Atom-r blurs boundaries between physical and virtual, past and future, male and female, human and machine.”

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(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdQz7i4Rh1o)

Streamed live on Feb 4, 2017

The Graham Foundation is pleased to debut the world premiere of Kjell Theøry by the experimental artist collective, ATOM-r (Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality). The performance is the culmination of a multi-year project by the group and joint residencies at the Graham Foundation and the International Museum of Surgical Science (IMSS). Kjell Theøry is an Augmented Reality performance juxtaposing the writings of Alan Turing—a gay twentieth century computing pioneer—about pattern and shape in the natural world with algorithmic mutations of Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1917 play The Breasts of Tiresias, a gender fluid spectacle for which the playwright invented the word “surrealism.” The performance considers the last two years of Turing’s life wherein he expanded his focus to include biology while seeking asylum and tolerance in Scandinavia following his prosecution for crimes of indecency in the United Kingdom. Turing named his theory of morphogenesis—the autonomous generation of flowers and other natural forms—for a Norwegian love interest, Kjell. In Kjell Theøry, ATOM-r draws on Turing’s theory, turning it into a poetic and choreographic system to blur the boundaries between the binaries of physical and virtual space, past and future, male and female, and human and machine. The collective’s process creates a deeply entangled and fertile exchange between the live body and ubiquitously distributed data-driven systems. A project-specific ecology of source material is translated as movement, visualized on screens, and mapped onto bodies and geo-physical space through locative and computer-vision based augmented reality. The performance uses coded systems and augmentation to create a liminal theatre evolved in relation to the Graham Foundation’s specific spatial context. While the work is inherently variable, it is experienced as a tightly constrained, yet flexible, information pattern that allows for close attention, emergence, and interruption. The Graham Foundation residency program invites practitioners working in a wide range of disciplines to directly engage the physical spaces of the Foundation’s historic Madlener House. Residencies encourage and expand the discourse around architecture by providing resources and opportunities for collaboration within the Graham Foundation community. ATOM-r’s residency began in September 2016 in collaboration with IMSS, where the group simultaneously developed an exhibition entitled Kjell Theøry: Prologue. The exhibition at IMSS will run from January 20–February 26, 2017. ATOM-r (Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality) is a provisional collective exploring forensics, anatomy, and twenty-first century embodiment through performance, language, and emerging technologies. The work is interdisciplinary and evolves through large-scale projects with long durations of research and practice that generate outputs across a range of platforms including Internet art, augmented reality, site specific installation, choreographed movement, books, and objects. ATOM-r was conceived in response to the historical architecture of early modern anatomical theaters, spaces designed for viewing human dissections and early surgical procedures. This physical and conceptual arrangement is used as a symbol throughout their work to explore histories and experiences of the body, sexuality, and prosthesis. Kjell Theøry was created by ATOM-r core members: Mark Jeffery (choreography) and Judd Morrissey (text and technology) with Justin Deschamps and Christopher Knowlton (collaborators/performers); and features a guest appearance by Leonardo Kaplan. Collaborators include: Grace DuVal (costumes); Laura Prieto-Velasco, Stephen Reynolds, Oli Watt (props/objects); Joshua Patterson (sound); and Josh Hoglund (lighting).

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Ring in the New Year by funding us forward! ATOM-r’s 2017 Benefit pictures that took place on January 12th 2017 at International Museum of Health and Medicine  The event is billed as an evening of revelry, as well as a preview of the groups latest concept Kjell Theøry, incorporating aspects of performance in relation to artificial intelligence, theories of digital embodiment, queer histories of computing, and Alan Turing's engagement with the mathematics of flowers. The benefit takes place at the home of ATOM-r's 2016 artist residency, the International Museum of Surgical Science.

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Kjell Theøry explores Alan Turings mathematical descriptions of nature in conjunction with the prologue from the first surrealist play, The Breasts of Tiresias (1917), a genderbending spectacle of male reproduction. ATOM-r uses technologies of mixed and augmented reality to create a queer neopagan fertility ritual staged as a liminal theatre between physical and virtual worlds. IMAGE CREDIT: @graceduval 

Performance of Kjell Theøry, Graham Foundation January 28th 2017 

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Year End Fundraiser for ATOM-r

Dear Friends

2015 has been a rich and eventful year for us at Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-r)! As we enter 2016 we ask that you consider supporting our ongoing operations. Please Donate $20.16 to ATOM-r HERE 

We invite you, with humility and gratitude, to make a year-end tax deductible donation to support our general durability and the production costs of our new performance, Kjell Theøry, a work that juxtaposes Alan Turing’s chemical castration with an AI translation of Guillaume Apollinaire's 1917 surrealist play, La Mamelles de Tirésias (Tiresias’ Tits). We plan to premier this work 100 years later in 2017. As ever, we attempt to do a lot with a little, or we turn dust into glitter.

In 2015 we presented works in progress performances of Kjell Theøry at the former Black Mountain College, Rapid Pulse International Performance Festival, Perform Chinatown in LA, Chicago Architecture Biennial, Mint Gallery in Columbus, OH, Arts West in Athens, Ohio and Catch Series in Chicago. For the end of the year we made THIS GIF 4U with our studio assistant Mev Luna. For the whole year we have rehearsed every Monday night and Thursday morning as artists in residence at National Museum of Health and Medicine and Chicago Cultural Center. with love, hoops and songs Happy New Year! ATOM-r xxxx 

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(via GIPHY)

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ATOM-r Kjell Theory (Within the House) invitation from 6018NORTH to respond to Sarah FitzSimons’s House as part of Chicago Architecture Biennial IMAGES By Ji Yang

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Un chant d'amour (Jean Genet, 1950)

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Short outtake of gestural text from Judd Morrissey's performance for E-poetry in Buenos Aires c/o Luis Correa-Diaz. The work is a sited variation of the writings and embodied and augmented reality poetics of Kjell Theory.

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Kjell Theøry / Prologue is an in-progress Augmented Reality (AR) performance juxtaposing the historical narrative of gay computing pioneer Alan Turing’s forced chemical castration with algorithmic mutations of Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1917 play, The Tits of Tiresias. In Apollinaire's text, for which he coined the term surrealism, a woman named Theresa transforms into the blind, male prophet Tiresias, and her husband gives birth to 40,049 babies. As In The Works artists, ATOM-r has been developing a live work incorporating eye-tracking software and augmented reality tattoos to investigate queer technologies, the performativity of gender, and the poetics of blindness and sight.

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Kjell Theøry: A Prologue is an Augmented Reality (AR) performance juxtaposing the historical narrative of gay computing pioneer Alan Turing’s forced chemical castration with algorithmic mutations of Guillaume Apollinaire’s 1917 play and the Padstow Obby Oss, May 1st Spring Ritual Fertility dance in Cornwall. IMAGE CREDIT: Arjuna Capulong

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#1 Dance Performance for 2014! Donate $20.15 to ATOM-r for 2015

Dear Friends, 2014 has been a rich and complex year for us at Anatomical Theatres of Mixed Reality (ATOM-r)! We just got #1 Dance Performance for 2014! As we enter $20.15, we ask that you consider supporting our ongoing operations. Please consider donating HERE.

This year, we premiered our first mixed reality performance work, The Operature, in March at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Chicago, and received excellent press from Chicago Tribune, Chicago Reader, New City, Time Out and we were just named #1 Dance Performance for 2014 in SeeChicagoDance. We launched Promiscuous Code / Plural Wife Project with Angela Ellsworth at Julius Caesar Gallery. We performed at Eyebeam in New York City and Zero1 Garage in San José. We did a photo shoot with photographer Zak Krevitt in Brooklyn. In an odd twist, we were selected as featured artists for Madonna’s ARTFORFREEDOM monthly web project. We published writings about our work in the International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media, Metaverse Creativity, and Theatre Pages. The Operature publication collaboration with PINUPS creator Christopher Schulz can be bought at Printed Matter, Quimbys and Live Art Development Agency and was on sale at NYC and LA Book Art Fairs in 2014.

If you are still reading, we invite you, with humility and gratitude, to make a year-end tax deductible donation to support our general durability and the production costs of our new performance, Kjell Theøry, a work that juxtaposes Alan Turing’s chemical castration with an AI translation of Guillaume Apollinaire's 1917 surrealist play, La Mamelles de Tirésias (Tiresias’ Tits). Our plans involve a custom-developed Augmented Reality app, a small circular stage with 360 degree projection, and a lot of scannable patterns in wearable burlesque lace. As ever, we attempt to do a lot with a little.

Donate $20.15 (or more!) to us before January 1 and we will send you a signed copy of our augmented print companion to The Operature and an atom-r pub coaster. The publication can also be pulled apart and assembled into a pin-up of bound men comprising the ominous final image of the work. You will receive a tax exempt letter from our fiscal sponsor, Links Hall.

Whether or not youcontribute, we thank you - our peers, colleagues and internet acquaintances - for your presence and influence in our lives and works.

Happy New Year / Love, Lace and Curls,

ATOM-r

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THE OPERATURE by ATOM-r @ZERO1, San Jose  part of BRING IT! Performance Series, August 1st 2014 7pm - 10pm 

Video:  Pelham Johnson

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'a vertical daisy chain, a final image that became one of curiosity, intensity, torturous: 4 laced bodies of bondage, stiffness and scanned and surveilledby Judd completing the image reading from the screen on his phone a data location driven poem over the 4 men, shirtless, trouserless, sock, shoes removed. Legs stacked, spread, butt cheeks exposed with a rose tattoo and jockstrap.' 

Theatre Pages, The Magazine for Theatre at York St John University Issue 9, Autumn 2014 Objects in Performance CORSET (s)