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Woody Vasulka

The Brotherhood, 1990-1998

The Brotherhood, 1990-1998 (video)
The Brotherhood, 1990-1998 (video)
Woody Vasulka, The Brotherhood - Table 1: Translocations, 1996 (video)
Woody Vasulka, The Brotherhood - Table 1: Translocations, 1996 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 2: Automata, 1990 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 2: Automata, 1990 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 3: Friendly Fire, 1994 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 3: Friendly Fire, 1994 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 4: Stealth, 1994 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 5: Scribe, 1998 (video)
Woody Vasulka, The Brotherhood - Table 6: The Maiden, 1998 (video)
The Brotherhood - Table 6: The Maiden, 1998 (video)
After moving to New Mexico, Woody began sifting through the military surplus waste cast off by the nearby Military Research Centre in Los Alamos. He also started an archaeological investigation of the military origin of recent technologies. These efforts gave rise to six hybrid installations that merge early war machinery with highly interactive computer applications. These works, albeit designed as separate entities, belong to the same family of devices and are often exhibited together. Essentially, the works are tables that display exoskeletons fitted with projectors, speakers, motion detectors and screens. Though controlled in real time by computers, some tables are equipped with consoles that visitors can use to alter the video segments and launch sequences of random kinetic events. Thanks to the software UNICOM Real-time, Networked Electronic Arts Interface Protocol designed by Russ Gritzo, the tables share a common language (the MIDI protocol) so that they can operate in synch in the exhibition space.

The Brotherhood is a series of six interactive constructions:

Table 1: Translocations (1996)

Construction with interactive components.
Robert Riley commissioned this piece for the exhibition Steina and Woody Vasulka: Machine Media held in February 1996 at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in California.
This work was produced with help from Bruce Hamilton.

Built as a game board depicting naval warfare, this piece explores the methods used to track distant enemies by pinpointing their coordinates in an occupied territory. Woody says that visitors control this device in the same way that a choreographer first determines movements intellectually and then imposes them on a dancer's body. By moving their hand over a lit panel, visitors can activate a robotic crossbar. As the bar moves, it creates a luminous path across the game board.

Table 2: Automata (1990)

Construction with interactive components.
Joan LaBarbara commissioned this piece for Events in the Elsewhere: Performance and Exhibition held in August 1990 at the Center for Contemporary Arts in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
In this piece, Woody uses Lightning, a musical instrument designed by Donald Buchla. Components of the work are operated by the software UNICOM Real-time, Networked Electronic Arts Interface Protocol developed by Russ Gritzo.

The first version of this table (called Theater of Hybrid Automata) was built before The Brotherhood for a performance by Joan LaBarbara. Automata suggests an intense relationship between virtual images and robotics. In the centre of a squared area, a gyroscope fitted with a video lens is programmed to aim at targets placed along the edges of the space. While a synthesized voice calls out the direction (north, south, east, west) that the lens is pointing in, a projector emits video images of the surrounding space. Finally, a 3-D animated film, in synch with the gyroscope's movements, is projected intermittently.

Table 3: Friendly Fire (1994)

Construction with interactive components.
This work was produced with support from Bruce Hamilton and the blacksmith Tom Joyce.
Peter Weibel commissioned this piece for the Ars Electronica festival held in June 1994 in Linz, Austria.

Five screens present video images of friendly fire filmed during the Gulf War. The table is equipped with additional screens as well as a slide projector that displays integrated-circuit diagrams found at the waste ground of the Los Alamos National Military Laboratory in New Mexico. A videodisc player is linked to a MIDI console that visitors can use to control the tape speed.

Table 4: Stealth (1998)

Construction with interactive components.
Woody Vasulka developed the concept for this piece, while Aaron Davidson and Thomas Ashcraft looked after the technical design, research and production.
The NTT InterCommunication Center commissioned this work for the exhibit Woody Vasulka: The Brotherhood Exhibition held at this centre in Tokyo, Japan, in July 1998.

Using a device originally developed for war helicopters, visitors can aim a laser beam at interactive targets and terminals triggered by light. Images filmed within the table are juxtaposed with video segments showing integrated circuits in computers.

The Brotherhood - Table 4: Stealth, 1994 (video) The Brotherhood - Table 5: Scribe, 1998 (video) Woody Vasulka, The Brotherhood - Table 6: The Maiden, 1998 (video) The Brotherhood - Table 6: The Maiden, 1998 (video)

Table 5: Scribe (1998)

Construction with interactive components.
This work was produced with help from Bruce Hamilton and Roderick Peyketewa. Ronald Christ wrote the text, and F. M. Einheit and Tom Joyce produced the video.
The NTT InterCommunication Center commissioned this work for the exhibit Woody Vasulka: The Brotherhood Exhibition held at this centre in Tokyo, Japan, in July 1998.

Scribe explores the impact of transferring data between different supports. A robotic arm turns the pages of a book filmed by a video camera. The image is forwarded to a second table equipped with a character-recognition device that translates the visual data into digital code. Next, an electronic pen transcribes the text onto an illuminated surface. Visitors can then note the discrepancies between the original and final texts.

Table 6: The Maiden (1998)

Construction with interactive components.
This work was produced with help from Bruce, Susan and Jamie Hamilton, Roderick Peyketewa and Van Baer. Summer Carnahan wrote the text « The Maiden ». Steina Vasulka oversaw the audio and video design and played the MIDI violin. Gene Youngblood narrated.
The NTT InterCommunication Center commissioned this piece for the exhibit Woody Vasulka: The Brotherhood Exhibition held at this centre in Tokyo, Japan, in July 1998.

This piece was built using the skeleton of an operating table whose mechanical levers have been replaced with a pneumatic device linked to the MIDI protocol. Whenever a visitor approaches or speaks into a microphone, The Maiden is wracked by convulsions. The piece includes two fan-shaped screens and a video projection that varies depending on the context of the exhibition. Steina has incorporated The Maiden into her MIDI violin performances. By moving her bow, she modifies the tape speed of images stored on a videodisk and activates the table's integrated mechanism.

Vincent Bonin © 2001 FDL