The LAB

The LAB

The LAB in Association with Climate Theatre Presents:

PLASTIC: A Trip Through the Membrane
A new media play by Aaron Wolf Baum, Ph.D.

October 18-19
Friday and Saturday 8pm
$7-$10 sliding scale admission

The LAB and Climate Theatre co-present a new multimedia performance, PLASTIC: A Trip Through the Membrane, premiering at The LAB on Friday & Saturday October 18th-19th at 8 pm.

PLASTIC is a multimedia performance featuring multiprojector and multispeaker environments, sensor-driven audiovisual performances, and Butoh dance. PLASTIC is the work of Aaron Wolf Baum, Ph.D. (Doctor Friendly), in collaboration with: Butoh dancer Ledoh, performance director Steven Raspa, live soundscape artist Alaric Burns (Insect Funeral), actress Machiko Saito, clothing designer Loo Lin, and digital animator Thomas Williams (Biomorphic).

In PLASTIC, participants will pass through several "security measures" as they enter; once seated, they are exposed to a series of media viruses through a multiprojector and multi-speaker environment. Live performances by the sensored Doctor Friendly, Ledoh and Insect Funeral integrate the piece. Costumes by Loo Lin include the External Immune System, comprised of a hundred-foot labyrinth of medical tubing. New software by Thomas Williams and Dr. Baum will be distributed during the piece.

Dr. Baum builds software and hardware into unique visual and audio instruments. He has been working with artificially intelligent image- and sound-generating systems since 1997. His artistic vision was first realized in the Nebulous Entity which irradiated the 1998 Burning Man festival. His programmed sensory environments have appeared in Europe and nationally, at such venues as New Langton Arts, SIGGRAPH, and the Artificial Life conference series; his work appears on the August '02 issue of IEEE Computer Graphics. Visit www.drfriendly.tv for more information.

A preview of PLASTIC will appear at The LAB on Friday, October 11th as part of the International Transcinema02 Festival.

PLASTIC is co-presented by Climate Theatre, which has supported multi-disciplinary work by promising new artists since its inception in 1984. On hiatus from the successful and genre-making Solo Mio Festival, Climate has recently turned its focus to more interactive and media-based performance.

Artist Bios:

Ledoh has been dancing Butoh internationally since 1990. In 1998, he co-founded the Salt Farm Butoh dance theater company.

Alaric Burns, composer, performer, & creator of Insect Funeral, has shared the stage with Diamanda Galas, Einsturzende Neubaten, Survival Research Laboratories, Negativeland, The Swans, & DJ Spooky.

$teven Ra$pa is a writer, producer, performance artist, sculptor, and evangelist of the arts. He is a winner of the United Nations Peace Medal, a founding member of multi-media supergroup HAPPY and the artist collective DISH, and a frequent collaborator of Dr. Friendly's.

Thomas Williams aka Biomorphic spends all of his time making psychedelic 3D computer art and programming virtual environments. His life's goal is to make a grand sculpture on a remote island in southeast Asia and live in it. www.biomorphica.com

Loo Lin, aka Mediva, is a sculptor and designer. She designs an underground line of menswear, BONITO, dedicated to changing men's relationship to themselves through their relationship to clothing.