Avatar Orchestra Metaverse - live performance of PwRHm at the Deep Listening Institute Women and Identity Festival April 17, 2008 in New York City.

Avatar Orchestra Metaverse live performance of PwRHm at the Deep Listening Institute Women and Identity Festival April 17, 2008 in New York City. PwRHm (2008) Composer: Tina Pearson / Humming Pera, Victoria, Canada Instrument Builder, Field Recording samples: Andreas Mueller / Bingo Onomatopoeia, Regensburg, Germany Set Design: Sachiko Hayachi / Goodwind Seiling, Stockholm, Sweden The recording is from the perspective of one of the performing avatars, Bingo Onomatopoeia, as he moved through the performance platform in shifting relationship to the sounds of the other players. Performers: Bingo Onomatopoeia (Andreas Mueller), Regensburg, Germany Blaise delaFrance (Biagio Fracia), Italy Fernsing Llewelyn (Cathy Lewis), Victoria, BC, Canada Free Noyes (Pauline Oliveros), Kingston, New York, USA Gumnosophistai Nurmi (Leif Inge), Oslo, Norway Humming Pera (Tina Pearson), Victoria, BC, Canada Maxxo Klaar (Max D. Well), Regensburg, Germany Paco Mariani (Chris Wittkowsky), Regensburg, Germany Zonzo Spyker (Viv Corringham), Minneapolis, USA, London, UK PwRHm is an Avatar Orchestra work in progress that explores and embraces the sonic possibilities inherent in the frequency of the electrical currents that power most aspects of modern existence. The piece exposes the relationship between the harmonic series of the North American 60 Cycle AC current and of the European 50 Cycle AC current, and uses the breathing rhythms of the live individual performers, spread across 2 continents, to determine the dynamic between the relationships, sounds and movements of the virtual avatar players. PwRHm uses 4 instruments created within the technical possibilities and limitations of the Second Life platform. The instrument sounds are made from sets of short sound samples of individual sine and square waves and field recordings of electric motors put together in a HUD (Heads Up Display) configuration by the Orchestra's instrument builder, Andreas Mueller / Bingo Onomatopoeia. The sounds made by the players are therefore not streamed. Each avatar/player is plays, in real time, sounds through instrument controls visible on each of their computer screens to make the combined sound of the piece. The players move through the virtual performance space when they play, giving a changing blend of sound throughout the piece. The avatars also hold semi-transparent globes, or 'receivers', designed by media artist Sachiko Hayachi / Goodwind Seiling, that emit gradations of differently coloured particles according to the specific sound and volume they each play on their instruments. The set also includes two large blue water tanks that hold two of the players, and that provide illumination within the night sky surrounding the suspended virtual performance platform. This recording was made from Bingo's computer and thus documents the listening perspective of this particular player - the audience in NY receives a slightly different mix.