About this project

What is PERFORMER?

A bright theater spotlight will illuminate a large oval on the ground. When a person walks on to the oval of light, a roar of clapping is heard. The enthusiasm of the virtual crowd increases with movement of the viewer and with the amount of viewers in the oval. If the viewer is still, the audience calms and eventually goes silent except for an occasional cough or clearing of the throat. When the viewer leaves the illuminated area the viewer hears applause proportional to the total amount of movement in that session.

This installation will use a real-time audio audience simulation and a movement sensor to produce an illusion that reverses the traditional relationship between viewer and subject. The audio in this installation will be extremely lifelike and never repeat. The simulation uses hundreds of live recorded sounds of clapping, whistling, hooting, and mumbling and layers them in real time. People will actually feel as if a real, 500-member audience is applauding them. Viewers will ‘perform’ in their own way and this will elicit different behavior from the virtual audience.

The Times Square Alliance has asked us to make and install this work. We have chosen a site for the work and we have just received full permission from the owners. 

Where and When?

PERFORMER will be installed for one month with an opening date of October 13th 2011. The location will be inside Anita's Way, One Bryant Park in Manhattan. This is an ideal site for many reasons: Anita's Way is a public passageway between 42nd and 43rd street. It is street level but enclosed, with it's own lighting truss and security. The passageway will allow the installation to sound lifelike even though all the hardware and speakers are on the truss, out of reach of the public.

This is really a once in a lifetime opportunity to make something that at least half a million people will see.

What will your donation be used for?

Crowd source funding seems especially appropriate for making this virtual crowd for the public. So here goes: 

We currently have a working prototype and have recorded all the sounds needed. We have obtained all the hardware needed except for the audio system. Your donation will be used for:

• Massive insurance requirements
  
• Union electrician costs
  
• Sound system rental
  
• Programming
  
• Sound Designer

This totals more than $10,000 so we need your help to make this happen. 

Why PERFORMER?

• Visiting Times Square is about being part of a large anonymous audience. This artwork provides needed balance by momentarily transforming the viewer into the center of attention.
  
• This work is extremely site specific. People will have the experience of being a star on the actual Broadway.
• This work operates both as conceptual art and as unique spectacle. As such, it allows for the widest possible audience. It is meant for everyone, no matter the age, race or background of the viewer.
  
• PERFORMER is an auto-affirmation machine. We all spend our lives seeking affirmation from our loved ones, peers, friends or from ourselves. Like a drug, this installation will momentarily subvert this basic human drive.
• PERFORMER will make people feel good.