“What is the use of a book…without pictures or conversation?” Alice asks in the opening of Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. During a Media Arts Project (MAP) sponsored party and Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance performance on August 13 and 14, spectacular images that would please Alice will be provided in the form of digital projections. Gary Crossey of FastFWD and Craig Hobbs of Black Box Studio have created digital projections to accompany Alice, an original dance.

The duo’s theatrical projections immerse the audience in the setting as Alice shrinks and grows and the Cheshire cat disappears and reappears. The rabbit hole the audience will tumble through into the world of Alice is unique to Asheville, and not only because the world premiere of Terpsicorps’ performance takes place here. Hobbs and Crossey shot the footage that would be digitally altered and transformed into the image of the rabbit hole in Asheville’s Beaucatcher Tunnel, as well as filming other scenes in the area, because they wanted to create a truly local experience.

Asheville is fast becoming a center for media arts activity with the potential to attract artists like Crossey, who recently exhibited experimental work at the Royal Palace in Lakenhal, Belgium. The Alice party will mark the one-year anniversary since Crossey and FastFWD’s co-owner Brian Jones relocated their Atlanta-based business to Asheville. FastFWD made the move to the Asheville media community in part because of the representation provided by the MAP. Jones and Crossey, recipients of the Public Choice Award from Wired for Best Business Web Site 2003, have been pleased to collaborate with other local media professionals at Black Box Studio.

Black Box Studio is an independent multimedia collective composed of Hobbs, David McConville and Steve Mann. In addition to designing the system for projecting the Alice images, the collective has produced an array of interactive media and photography projects both locally and internationally for clients such as Volvo Corporation, the North Carolina Arts Council, Lark Books, YMI Cultural Center, National Climatic Data Center, Elumens, and local artists and non-profit organizations. Members of Black Box play an active role in Asheville as media artists and advocates of media art initiatives such as MAP.

In addition to providing the images Alice would have liked to accompany her story, Alice organizers have remembered her desire for conversation. The MAP, Fast Forward, Black Box Studio, and the Asheville Area Chamber of Commerce Technology Council will sponsor a party and networking event at the New French Bar after the Saturday, August 14th performance of Alice. During the party, visuals from the performance will be projected on an overhead canopy. This set-up, says Crossey, will allow attendees to relate to each other more freely than they would if they had to direct their attention to a flat screen in front of them. Continuing the immersion in Wonderland, images of the dancers will be projected in such a way that party-goers can be photographed so it will appear they are in the performance. There will be hors douvres and live DJs.

The skill of Terpsicorps dancers and choreographers combined with a jazz and rock score by the As Is Ensemble; the Mad Hatter as played by Matthew Bivins of the band Jump, Little Children; and the projections created by Hobbs and Crossey will lead to innovative results. Greg Lucas, Director of the MAP, thinks the social opportunities of the Alice after party will create more successful collaborations between various artistic disciplines. "This gathering is the first of many convergences between traditional artists and media artists that MAP will help facilitate. Having media artists socialize and brainstorm with performance artists is a great way to expand the dimensions of art in Western North Carolina.”

Performances of Alice will take place at 8:00 p.m. on Friday, August 13, and Saturday, August 14 at the Diana Wortham Theater. To purchase tickets, call 828-257-4530. For more information on Terpsicorps Theatre of Dance, call 828-252-6342. The after-party will be held on Saturday, August 14, beginning at 9:45. Alice ticket holders are admitted free. The cover charge for those without ticket stubs is $10 at the door. Contact Rose at rosem@themap.org for more party information.

Press:

Digital meets dance in 'Alice' production (Asheville Citizen-Times)

Go Upload Alice (Mountain Xpress)