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Presentation DAI

In December 1999 the New Remote was invited to give a presentation of the Haarlem/Akureyri works at DAI (Dutch Art Institute) in Enschede, The Netherlands. Rather than pursuing a conventional format (slide show, video viewing and talk with question/answer period), the New Remote turned the presentation into a performance reflective of the style of the Haarlem/Akureyri project. It became a long distance presentation through remote communication with the audience in the presentation room and the New Remote elsewhere in the building, where they created a transmission room. Todd Matsumoto acted as intermediary between the audience and the hidden New Remote members.

The presentation room was equipped with modest video/audio facilities; a phone line, two slide projectors and two video cameras. Aside from Todd Matsumoto, the New Remote members were invisible to their audience. Present only through voice transmission, under the pretense of orbiting the earth in some sort o capsule, they were apparently waiting to be pulled in by some force to begin a new project. They were, in fact, in the next room linked by hidden wires through a telephone system, which was broadcast through the presentation room. To enhance the mystery and accuracy of remote communication, the "orbiting crew" had a live view into the presentation room via video. This enabled them to see and hear everything that transpired in the presentation room and to be able to react on cue.

After Matsumoto's introduction, the transmission room contacted the presentation room by telephone. The phone was connected to an audio system such that the audience could listen. The four members in the transmission room involved the audience by asking them to operate the slide projectors throughout the presentation. The projectors were loaded with images from the Haarlem/Akureyri project. The audience became integrated into controlling elements of the presentation and Matsumoto became a sort of systems manager, ensuring that all the equipment was functioning properly. The videos were screened and the audience was given the opportunity to converse with the transmission room and ask questions.

At the end, The New Remote Quartet's "Shoot till end of Speech" CD was played. The CD features 17 audio pieces, plus an audio track from one of the videos and was compiled from jam sessions in Akureyri. Most of the tracks are improvisational sound works performed by the four New Remote members Barry Camps, Camilla Singh, Steini Torsson, and Walter Willems. In Iceland one of the tracks was broadcasted on national radio during a program about the Listasumar Akureyri festival, which covered the New Remote project.

The audience never saw four of the New Remote members and after this presentation, the New Remote decided to instill performance style presentations as a tradition. In February 2000 they were invited to do another presentation. They made an installation with an LCD data projector, video monitor, two slide projectors and an audio system to present the New Remote. New videos were produced to present the Haarlem/Akureyri project and the concept of New Remote. At the time of the presentation nobody from New Remote was present and instructions were provided for the installation to be operated by the audience.