For immediate release—October 4, 2001

Media Contacts:
Bryan Markovitz, 503 890 2993, bryan@liminalgroup.org
Andrew Armour, 604 254 1265, dynamo_gallery@hotmail.com

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer Mixes Airport Crime Drama with 360-Degree Interactive Performance

Vancouver, BC—On October 25, 26 and 27, Portland-based theatre and media ensemble Liminal will present Objects for the Emancipated Consumer at the DYNAMO Gallery in conjunction with Vancouver’s LIVE Biennial of Performance Art. Liminal’s original airport drama and 360-degree media performance premiered at the 2001 Seattle Fringe Theatre Festival and played to sold-out Portland audiences last spring. Objects for the Emancipated Consumer recently received a 2001 Portland Theatre Critic’s Drammy Award for Best Original Work.

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer tells a nonlinear story of six characters as they search for answers to an ambiguous series of crimes in a fictitious international airport terminal. Scenes from the performance run simultaneously as audience members participate by scanning bar-coded objects at the performance’s central “duty-free” shop. As in a choose-your-own-adventure novel, the audience’s interaction with the bar-code scanner activates sound, video and other media throughout the open gallery that actors directly engage. Audiences are free to watch scenes up close or from a broader perspective.

“Liminal gives you many direct opportunities to choose how you experience the performance,” says Director Bryan Markovitz. “While it is not unusual to break down the division between performers and audiences, Liminal heightens the impact of the interaction by giving participants access to media and technology that can change and inform their environment.”

Liminal is an ensemble of artists collaborating through live performance to discover new disciplines that merge theatre, the fine arts, and multimedia technologies.

The DYNAMO Arts Association was incorporated in August 1996 with a mandate to provide a forum for emerging artists working in the areas of sculpture, installation, and performance art.

It fulfils this mandate by providing eighteen publicly rented studio spaces, providing our space as a resource for community groups, and by running a non-profit gallery.

OBJECTS FOR THE EMANCIPATED CONSUMER
Part of the LIVE Biennial of Performance Art
Thursday—Oct. 25—9 PM
Friday—Oct. 26—9 PM
Saturday—Oct. 27—6 PM

DYNAMO Gallery
142 W Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC, V5N 1G9
Tickets—$10
Reservations—604 602 9005

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer is supported in part by The Allen Foundation for the Arts, Meyer Memorial Trust and STEP Technology.

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Objects for the Emancipated Consumer (2001)

In 2001, Liminal premiered Objects for the Emancipated Consumer at the Seattle Fringe Festival and performed in Portland and in Vancouver, BC, at the DYNAMO Gallery in conjunction with Vancouver’s LIVE Biennial of Performance Art.

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer was an original 360-degree media performance that told a nonlinear story of six characters as they searched for answers to an ambiguous series of crimes. The performance was set in a fictitious international airport terminal where scenes from the performance ran simultaneously as audience members walked through the open space. Audiences participated in the outcome of events by scanning bar-coded objects at the performance’s central “duty-free” shop that triggered interactions between sound and visual media and actors. The performance gave audiences many direct opportunities to choose how to experience the performance. While it is not unusual to break down the division between performers and audiences, Objects for the Emancipated Consumer heightened the impact of the interaction by giving participants access to media and technology that changed and informed their environment.

Objects for the Emancipated Consumer received a 2001 Portland Theatre Critic’s Drammy Award for Best Original Work. Bryan Markovitz directed. Alex Reagan wrote the script in collaboration with the ensemble. John Berendzen created the original sound design. Christoph Saxe programmed. Bryan Markovitz produced slide and video. Cast members included Amanda Boekelheide, Jeff Marchant, Rich Southwick, Jennifer Olson, Georgia Luce and Trent Moore.

©2012 Liminal Performance Group / P.O. Box 40353, Portland, Oregon 97240-0353 / Founded in 1997 / info [at] liminalgroup [dot] org / Join our mailing list.