User:Cirilion/Blast Theory

Based out of Portslade UK, Blast Theory creates interactive art that fuses the virtual and “real” worlds allowing human interaction between the two to shed light on the nature and value of mediated communications and performance. The technological repertoire of Blast Theory encompasses not only internet technologies but also that of mobile applications used by participants as a bridge between the world of the digital and that of analog everyday life. Much of their most recent work involves participants navigating the streets of particular cities all the while receiving communications via portable mobile devices that aid them via GPS, text, instant messaging and video. In many cases, the participant has a goal to achieve and receives aid from online users to accomplish the task. The fusion of technologies with a particular goal gives Blast Theory’s work the feel of an interactive video game that transcends its own boundaries to step outside of a wholly digital world.

With humble beginnings drawing on club culture and a mixture of multimedia performances, Blast Theory's founding members Matt Adams and Ju Row Farr were later joined by Nick Tandavanitj during their seminal growth period in 1994 to form the core of the company as it exists today. Matt Adams began with his interests in acting and directing at a young age and went on to study English Literature at University College London. Fusing an interest in cinema with his other talents he co-founded Blast Theory with fellow employees. Originally trained as a dancer until her 20's, Ju Row Farr serves as a mentor and educator around the ideas and devisements of Blast Theory's creations as well as working with other multi-discplinary art forms and organizations. Nick Tandavanitj handles much of the conceptual and application based context of the computer work done by Blast Theory. His strong skills in blending narrative and digital technologies have led to a complimentary relationship that earmarks much of Blast Theory's work.

Selected Works
Kidnap (1998) As a commentary on violence, surveillance and public spectacle, Blast Theory became a major contending artistic entity with Kidnap in 1998. The work, originally titled Succumbing, was part of a residency in Berlin lasting nine months. The piece broadcast surveillance of two voluntary 'unsuspecting' victims chosen at random from a pre-publicized lottery to participate in the piece. Although targets volunteered to participate the exact time and location of their kidnapping was never disclosed to them, or even the fact that they had been chosen. Kidnap put the forth the concept of the public spectacle of victimization from a dual perspective of not only media consumption but also that of participation.

Uncle Roy All Around You (2003) Mixing personal narrative and exploration alongside human interaction mediated through mobile and online communications, Uncle Roy All Around You highlights the bond that can be formed, or not formed, through such mediums. Participants experience the 'game' in one of two ways, either as an online navigator or a person walking the city trying to find the mysterious Uncle Roy. Participants at street level receive messages via GPS devices that display their locations on a map while allowing them aid from online participants and Blast Theory artists. Ultimately the goal of the game is to find Uncle Roy who approaches in a limousine and asks the question "Would you trust a stranger?" The eventual choice to place a post card on board at the end of the experience to pair one up with an online participant as a friend is the outcome. It is the question of committing oneself as a confidant to someone wholly known only through mediated means that underscores the experience.

Day of the Figurines (2006) Day of the Figurines is a devised multi-player game that creates a narrative around a city of 1,000 participants. The installation is a three-dimensional representation of a fictional city occupied by an Arabic army that spirals into chaos over the course of a 24 day game session. Populating the model are one thousand figurines, each representing one of the players. The piece borrows from table-top figurine gaming, online Multi User Dungeons (MUDs) and group narrative constructs based around improvisation and choice. The actions of each participants 'characters' affects the circumstances of other participants, as well as the narrative surrounding the fictional city.

Rider Spoke (2007) Participants cycle around the city searching for hiding spots to record the answers to questions posed to them via mobile device mounted to the handle bars of their bike. Rider Spoke was one of many collaborations with the Mixed Reality Lab at University of Nottingham. The exploration of the city via GPS navigation in a search for predetermined hiding spots that remain udiscovered by other participants helps to generate a feeling of personal narrative that is constructed. The answering of questions about ones life in isolation amongst an activity undertaken by others is meant to simultaneously foster a sense of community and individuality. Rider Spoke was presented in Athens, Brighton, Budapest, Sydney and Adelaide as well as its premiere at the Barbican in London.

Chronology of Works
2008 You Get Me - You Get Me is a work about understanding, intimacy and mediation.

2007 Rider Spoke - Rider Spoke is a work for cyclists.

2006 Soft Message - Soft Message is a work exploring how and why we use the phone.

2006 Day Of The Figurines - Day Of The Figurines is part board game, part secret society.

2005 Single Story Building, Tate Online - In Single Story Building Telephone Version the participant drills through two thousand either/or questions.

2004 Energy Gallery, The Science Museum - A permanent interactive installation for the Energy Gallery about Future Energy.

2004 Light Square - Three performers copy Godard and zombie movies.

2004 I Like Frank - The world's first mixed reality game for 3G phones.

2003 Uncle Roy All Around You - Online players and street players search for strangers in the city.

2001 Can You See Me Now? - Installation - A five screen installation for Ars Electronica.

2002 Stay Home Read - A video work using flash photography.

2002 Single Story Building - A screen based interactive work navigating through hundreds of private spaces.

2002 TRUCOLD - A 13 minute screen based work shot in Karlsruhe and London.

2001 Viewfinder - Two members of Blast Theory invite you to watch.

2001 Can You See Me Now? - Online players are chased through a virtual city by performers in the physical city.

2001 An Explicit Volume - An interactive installation of hand made pornographic books.

2000 Choreographic Cops In A Complicated World - Video loops exposing the balletic artifice in cop movies.

2000 Sidetracks : Light Sleeper & Body Chemistry IV - 45 seconds of dead time from the Willem Defoe movie / 45 seconds of 2nd unit shots from the TV movie.

2000 Desert Rain - A virtual reality performance and installation about the 1991 Gulf War.

1999 10 Backwards - A performance about time travel.

1999 Route 12:36 - A commission for two London bus routes.

1998 Kidnap - A lottery in which the winners get kidnapped.

1998 Architecture Foundation - Engaging the public in the East End about the urban environment.

1998 Atomic Installation - Inviting the public into three booths to discuss their private desires.

1997 Safehouse - A four room installation in which every visitor is interviewed about kidnapping.

1997 Invisible Bullets (video)- A 3 minute video of the performance.

1997 Atomic Performance - A performance contrasting public presentations with intimate games.

1997 Blipvert - A 45 second advert for Kidnap, shown in cinemas.

1997 ''C'mon Baby, Fight! Fight! Fight!'' - A 10 minute work for clubs about zombies on the brain.

1996 Something American - A performance about an imagined America.

1997 Ultrapure - A durational performance for the Royal Court made with 10-24 year olds.

1996 Internal Ammunition - A performance by students where clubbers let go.

1995 The Gilt Remake - A performance by students about corruption, both personal and political.

1994 Invisible Bullets - A durational performance in which a crime proliferates endlessly.

1994 Stampede - A performance about crowds, clubs and losing control.

1992 Chemical Wedding - A performance about computer viruses, HIV and memes.

1991 Gunmen Kill Three

Reviews
RealTime Arts review of Rider Spoke