Son(net) Subterfuge was a trans-cultural collaborative multimedia interpretation of Shakespeare, conceived and directed by Josephine Dorado at the Waag Society in Amsterdam. It was realized as a distributed live performance among artists in Amsterdam, New York, and Helsinki that happened simultaneously, and differently, in each location. I directed the New York team at the Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP) at New York University (NYU).
The basis of the project was an invitation to interpret or subvert selected Shakespeare sonnets as a sound or video performance, and to stream it to the Waag Society to be incorporated into a dance performance which concurrently was streamed back. The sonnets each addressed difficulties resulting from separation.
In New York we improvised live audio and video using analog and digital synthesis and processing techniques. In amsterdam our audio stream was mixed with additional live sound from Helsinki and prerecorded audio to create the score for the dance performance at the Waag Society. Our video was streamed and projected onto their stage.
Meanwhile, the video stream of the performance in Amsterdam was projected into the New York and Helsinki locations, thus fulfilling a feedback loop of give and take. In Amsterdam they danced to our music; in New York we created our music in response to their dance — a circular collaboration hindered by difficulties caused by distance and network delay.