ZEE by Kurt Hentschläger :: October 28 - November 15, 2009 :: 3LD Art & Technology Center, 80 Greenwich Street, Lower Manhattan, New York :: Panel Discussion: Performance, Installation and Immersion :: October 25, 2009; 1:30 – 3:30 pm :: CPR—Center for Performance Research, 361 Manhattan Avenue, Unit 1, Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

ZEE is a rigorous mindscape; a hallucinatory architecture of pure light; a dream machine. An enclosed space is filled with a dense, odorless fog that completely obscures the walls, floor and ceiling. Individuals freely roam this environment, safely guided by ropes, while flickering light filters through the haze, inducing hallucinations and sensory distortions within each viewer. An ambient soundscape intensifies this full-immersion experience, shifting dynamically according to changes in the color, frequency and intensity of the lights.

Exhilarating and meditative, Hentschläger’s pulsing, stroboscopic and mind-altering ZEE pushes the boundaries of human perception and creates an intensely riveting audiovisual journey.

Kurt Hentschläger, a Chicago-based Austrian artist, was last in NYC as one half of the Austrian duo Granular Synthesis with the spectacular video and sound environment “NoiseGate” in 2000, part of Creative Time’s “Art in the Anchorage.”

In conjunction with the opening of ZEE, FuturePerfect, CPR—Center for Performance Research, 3LD Art & Technology Center, and PS122 invite you to a panel on Performance, Installation, and Immersion. Participants include: Kevin Cunningham (Director, 3-Legged Dog Media and Theater Group), Kurt Hentschläger (Artist, Austria/US), Kora Van den Bulcke and Thomas Soetens (Workspace Unlimited, Artist Collective Belgium/Canada), Allen Feldman (Associate Professor, Anthropology, NYU), and others to be announced. Discussants include Vallejo Gantner (PS122), Morgan von Prelle Pecelli (PS122), Wayne Ashley (FuturePerfect), Dr. Frank Hentschker (Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, CUNY) and others.

Important information: Anybody with the following conditions should not attend ZEE: photosensitive epilepsy; asthma, breathing and heart problems; abnormal blood pressure; migraine & headaches; all kinds of eye & ear diseases; claustrophobia or anxiety. Pregnant women are also advised to refrain from attending. Please note: The artificial fog being used is proven, even in extreme intensities, not to be of any health risk; the stroboscopes used in the show are standard theatrical units.

Chicago-based Austrian artist Kurt Hentschläger creates audio-visual compositions that lie somewhere in between performance and installation. The immersive nature of his work reflects on the metaphor of the sublime. Trained as a fine artist, in 1983 he began as a sculptor by building surreal machine objects, followed by works with video, computer animation and sound. Between 1992 and 2003 he worked collaboratively as part of the duo Granular Synthesis. His most recent solo work is more poetic and further researches the nature of human perception and accelerated impact of new technologies on individual consciousness.

ZEE is the inaugural event of FuturePerfect, a new initiative that researches and presents hybrid performance practices, media forms, and artistic ideas that continue to emerge as computer technologies and electronic networks mature and become inseparable from contemporary culture. In particular focus is the future of live performance and related visual culture. FuturePerfect 2011, a performance festival and exhibition, is slated for New York City during Spring 2011. Wayne Ashley is FuturePerfect’s founding artistic director, the former Director of Arts in Multimedia at Brooklyn Academy.

ZEE was originally commissioned by OK-Center Linz, and Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh in 2008. Kurt Hentschlager is Managed and Represented by Richard Castelli / Epidemic.

Supported by: BMUKK -Austrian Ministry for Education, Art & Culture and MEDA(TM) - vision beyond
Production Assistance: Shane Mecklenburger / Technical Assistance Touring: Alexander Boehmler, Ian Brill.