Wireless 1: Press Release – March ’99

Wireless Bodies: New interdisciplinary work created and performed by Howard Bearham, Blake Parker and Ruby Truly

A trio of new media artists premiered an experimental improvised work entitled ” WIRELESS BODIES” at the Artist-Run Alternator Gallery in Kelowna on March 2, 1999.  The primary performance, which was mounted in the Alternator gallery main exhibition space, also included a two-way low-power TV broadcast to and from the Bean Scene Coffee shop directly across the street.
The performance, programmed and funded by the Alternator Gallery, involved the spontaneous improvisation of graphics, spoken word, music and a moving collage of appropriated images. Although the performance itself remains difficult to categorize – an eclectic mix of synthesized high-tech. and the acoustic resonance of the human voice - there is no doubt that the audience was treated to an inspired and innovative use of electronic media delivered with a refreshing sense of compassion and real humanity.
Ruby Truly, video and digital artist, generated wonderfully innocent computer animations in real-time while Blake Parker, poet and performer read and improvised stories about, well…about wireless bodies—those bodies that fly through the air, arrive on your TV, in your magazines and mix in your dreams. Howard Bearham, the third member of the trio, orchestrated the mixing of live and digitized sources including the audience transmitted from the Bean Scene Coffee house. This “main mix” was projected onto the wall behind the performers and also onto a large second floor window of the gallery that could be viewed from the street. The final feed was also transmitted across the street linking both audiences in time.
The large crowd of both young and old were generous with their compliments as well as suggesting more interactivity, inspiring WIRELESS BODIES to move toward “video surveillance” for their next performance.  The trio is working to extend their endeavors into a global arena via the Internet and are eager to present WIRELESS BODIES locally in the Kootenays.