02 Feb 2017

Are these systems made of us? PPL presents durational research project open across the month of February

Friday, February 3, 8pm: 'Christen'
Saturday, February 4, 3pm-6pm: 'Nina Isabelle' 8pm: 'Geraldo' 9pm: 'samuel'
Sunday, February 5, 8pm: 'johannagilje'
Monday, February 6, 8pm: 'aliftig,' 9pm: 'elizabethlamb'
Tuesday, February 7, 8pm: 'diane'
Wednesday, February 8, 8pm: 'Sumo'
Friday, February 10, 8pm: 'huckjackhexjar'
Saturday, February 11, 6pm-8pm: 'LukeJM,' 9pm: 'Tsedaye,' 10pm: 'jgladstone'
Tuesday, February 14, 4pm-8pm: 'lovelovelove,' 9pm: 'belel'
Wednesday, February 15, 8pm: 'daver,' 9:30pm: 'crossoffice'
Thursday, February 16, 8pm: 'Jessica'
Friday, February 17, 7pm: 'Valera,' 8pm: 'Zhen,' 9pm: 'Aranzazu,'10pm: 'raziaisthenameofmycat'
Saturday, February 18, 4pm-6pm: 'ElaineThap,' 8pm: 'aevi and me'
Wednesday, February 22, 7pm: 'jamieburkart,' 8pm: 'BenjaminL/T-S,' 9pm: 'Adrift Dismantled'
Thursday, February 23, 8:00pm: 'Violistakaren,' 9pm: 'IV,' 10pm: 'Sierra.Elena'
Friday, February 24, 8pm: 'Valerie Kuehne,' 9:30pm: 'It's Me,' 10pm: '2sad4dismrkfrshspnch,' 11pm-exhaustion: 'abandonedtires'
Saturday, February 25, 7pm: 'ilzost,' 8pm: 'imageobject,' 9pm: 'cafecafè'
Sunday, February 26, 5pm-unknown: 'dahvvv'
Monday, February 27, 8pm: 'lolotrashbo'
February 28, 8pm: 'tinyfruit'

*Users who selected option 'F' generate likelihoods and may or may not be 'performed' in forms recognizable as 'performance' at some point or throughout the month: 'Christine O' 'BluMom' 'laureljay' 'hollowobscenity' 'cat' 'linzdrury' 'MatthewGGannt' 'Linda' 'me' 'ultradella' 'pmqwerty' 'Cbxtn' 'Queena'


Embarrassed of the Whole is a work of operatic philosophy investigating (HOW?) anti-holistic (HOW SO?) complex systems and worldview-construction (TO WHAT AFFECT?)

Performed through a series of live public operations throughout the month of February, 2017, each performance (or 'operation') has been generatively devised via an online survey. Each 'user' of the online survey and its correlational anti-holisitc system generated one operation to be generated within/as an immersive installation/durational performance at the collective's performance laboratory in East Williamsburg. Each user also chose a mode of engagement, becoming a co-operating collaborator, a participant, a template, the primary operator, etc. Each operation named by the 'username' above is unique and will only be performed once.

Process-forms for 'Embarrassed of the Whole' have been devised over the course of three years as theatrical/theoretical research into relationships between conceptual holism and totalitarianism/colonialism/universalism/digital and corporate (+ otherwise non 'somatic') 'presentation;' experienced consequences and affects as well as intended/induced/inductively-reasoned causes were then used to construct a culminating process with three parts:

1.) Forms of online surveillance (survey) hypothesizing inquiry-forms are entered by Users.
2.) Users receive 'scores for scores' generated by their userships/articulated lines of inquiry at the end of the survey and may choose a mode of further engagement (i.e. to collaborate, be presented as, to direct and/or to otherwise navigate bodily/self formation, presentation, conceptualization) through which to translate, interpret, and articulate their own usership into an actual/enacted/artificial/artefactual performative operation.
3.) In February 2017 operations are performed and rhizomatically discoursed throughout and across the month as philosophy practiced and operated by PPL and/or assembled Users/operators/'real' persons and 'artificial intelligences.' Each online 'user' of EotW's 'anti-holistic system' has become a critical theorizing performer ('operator') of the opera (or not).

There are 63 Unique Users of this culminating research process for Embarrassed of the Whole, including its originating operators, artist-researchers Esther Neff, Brian McCorkle, and Kaia Gilje. 39 of these Userships generated operations that could be framed generally as 'experimental opera,' i.e. performances occurring theatrically/theoretically for a 1-4 hour period of time or installed in the space, and/or otherwise appearing at/inside PPL, seen/visible/sited/situated in a manner that may be of interest, movement, entertainment, edification, relevance, or other potential sensory and perceptual stimulation to audience members, participants, and witnesses. These 39 operations include forms like 'compass' ('johannagilje'), 'an artificial intelligence named Cliché ('dahhv'), 'a punk band' ('Geraldo'), and 'time machine' ('Nina Isabelle'). The other 15 operations are intermittently, extremely briefly or extremely habitually, conceptually, imperceptibly, relationally, contingently, tangentially, iteratively, potentially or otherwise less 'presentationally' apparent and take diverse and mutliplicit forms.

Parsing, in-forming, and processing interfacings, ur-fascisms, holisms, and ways in which humans individually and collectively posit, negate, anticipate, experience, design, analyze, communicate, associate, interpret, encrypt, transform, survey, reflect, and otherwise (including over 100 other 'action modes') stage/perform/play/enact their own (anti)realities, idealities, presences, identities, and (self)righteousnesses, Embarrassed of the Whole uses the 'artificiality' of online and live 'art, dance, theater' and 'music' performance situations and frames to inquire into 'whole' and 'particular' theories of agentic constructivity, collaboration, community, conception, and chaos.

Framing texts and discursive elements can be found online:

Project Website: www.panoplylab.org/eotw
Introduction Essay: panoplylab.org/estherneff/?p=2309
Documentation of Processes: pplindex.tumblr.com/
Facebook event: www.facebook.com/events/1705386496438467/