Nothing Happens, a project by Nurit Bar-Shai + Rich Miller, Yishay Schwerd and Zach Lieberman, is a networked online performance in which viewers work together to make a series of objects tip over. The performance consists of three acts which are performed sequentially. Each scene contains a central protagonist, respectively: a cardboard box on a high shelf, a clear pint glass full of water on a tabletop, and a wooden chair. In all three acts, web-enabled physical devices controlled by viewer's clicks make these objects tip over. When this happens, the performance is over.
In addition, each change is recorded as a snapshot-image, creating not only an archive of the work, but a collective creative result: a stop-motion-animation sequence, in which viewers can browse through the entire history of the performance both during it and after its conclusion.

Nothing Happens at FILE RIO 2009 Electronic Language International Festival
Oi Futuro Cultural Center, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
FILE MEDIA ART
March 10 - April 19, 2009
Opening Tuesday, March 10

For more information visit FILE RIO 2009: [+]



Artist Bios:

Nurit Bar-Shai main interest lies in exploring tensions between the mundane and the uncanny in everyday life. Bar-Shai employs video and new technologies to explore fundamental questions of presentation and representation, to reframe the familiar and turn audiences into foreigners in their own ontological domains. http://nuritbarshai.com

Rich Miller is a sculptor and a recent graduate of the Interactive Telecommunications Program at NYU. His creative energies are focused on making electro-mechanical pieces that humor him, as well as designing and fabricating innovative and dynamic children's museum interactives and furniture. He lives and works in Astoria, NY.

Yishay Schwerd is a software engineer who specializes in communication, telephony and internet. Co-founder and VP R&D of MuseStorm, which provides an advanced content syndication service for publishers, content owners and media companies, enabling them to distribute their content in new and exciting ways. Yishay is located at Tel-Aviv, Israel. http://www.musestorm.com

Zachary Lieberman's work uses technology in a playful and enigmatic way to explore the nature of communication and the delicate boundary between the visible and the invisible. He creates performances, installations, and on-line works that investigate gestural input, augmentation of the body, and kinetic response. http://thesystemis.com/



Credits:

Nothing Happens, a performance in three acts, is a 2005 commission of New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc., (aka Ether-Ore) for its Turbulence web site. It was made possible with funding from The Greenwall Foundation.


History:

August 5 - August 31, 2008
The Fiesp Cultural Center, Sao Paulo, Brazil as part of FILE 2008 Electronic Language International Festival

February 6 - February 17, 2008
The National Art Center, Tokyo as part of The 2007 [11th] Japan Media Arts Festival
with the support of The Japan Media Arts Festival Executive Committee (Agency for Cultural Affairs / The National Art Center, Tokyo / CG-ARTS Society)

September 6th - October 14, 2007
The OK Center, as part of the CyberArts 2007, Prix Ars Electonica Exhibition
with funding from the OK Center, Ars Electonica and the Israeli Cultural Foreign Ministry.

October 15th - November 4th, 2006
3rd Ward Gallery Brooklyn NY
with the generous support of the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and 3rd Ward.


Additional Credits:

Nothing Happens would like to deeply thank:
Helen Thorington, Jo-Anne Green, Aviva, Micha, Iddo & Itai, Maria Richa & Marisol, Riquita, Ori & Noam, Noa Turel and Robert Schmitz-Michels for their generous support all along this journey, with out you it wouldnt happen

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The 2007 [11th] Japan Media Arts Festival:
Machiko Kusahara, Maiko Wakui, Maya Nago, and all the The Japan Media Arts Festival team!, to Yoni Maron (!), the Schwerd's, M&P.BS! and to all the dear people who did their best to help find support for this event!

CyberArts 2007, Prix Ars Electonica:
Wolfgang Holler (!!) Martina Rauschmayer, Dagmar Schink, Martin Sturm, Georg Seyfried, Florian Keclik, Franz Quirchtmayr and all the OK Center production team(!), Aleksey Vaynshteyn from flashnifties.com, Yossi Blatt, Angela Gnagni, Gilad Lotan, Samuel Herzlinger and 3rd Ward, for making this happen

3rd Ward, Brooklyn NY:
Tom Igoe, Clay Shirky, Red Burns, Tirtza Even, John Schimmel, Shawn Van Every, Rolf Levenbach, Gary Schober, to the wonderful community of the Interactive Telecommunications Program, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University (!), Golan Moati, Dana Orland, Jeremy Lovitt, Jason Goodman, Daniel Vera, Arielle Fenton and the 3rd Ward community, for making this happen