Friday, April 21, 2023
Door: 7 pm
Performance: 7:30 pm
Harcourt House Main Gallery
$15 at the door
Following a screening of Kelly Ruth’s short film entitled Pixelated Oscillations, Kelly Ruth and Allison Balcetis will perform for a live in person audience while their avatars play to an audience in a 3D virtual world. Ruth performs on amplified weaving loom and spinning wheel using contact mics, effects and loop pedals and Balcetis performs on soprano and baritone saxophones. Together through improvisation, they make cinematic soundscapes that conjure up images of histories past and future.
The evening will begin with a screening of Kelly Ruth’s newest machinima (video created using video game engines) short film. The performance and event space that takes place in the virtual world will be projected on the walls of the gallery at Harcourt House giving the Edmonton audience a sense of being in both worlds simultaneously. Following the sound performance by Ruth and Balcetis, DJ Mae will play a set in both worlds as well. The virtual world environment that the event takes place in is created by Kelly Ruth. Avatar representations of people from across the (real) world will be gathered to participate in the virtual event.
Kelly Ruth and Allison Balcetis are artists currently living in Treaty 6 Territory. They began playing together in 2019. Both a visual artist and a sound artist, Kelly Ruth has been creating and performing in virtual worlds and seeks to share the creative potential of these emerging platforms with other artists and audiences alike.
“One promising and revolutionary thing about the metaverse is that people can engage with art on their own terms anytime and from anywhere. For artists and arts presenters, building immersive exhibits in 3D worlds is creatively limitless and can potentially reach more communities across the globe through accessing people’s own living rooms and not requiring them to come to a physical space in a single geographic location.” – Kelly Ruth
Top Image: Courtesy of the artists
