Video
Feedback and Paradox
Plastic Orchid Factory's Digital Folk
“In an age where so many people do exist in relative isolation, engaging with the world through technology, digital folk is a flash of energy — energy that dance, song, and community so uniquely extract.” - Brittany Duggan, Georgia Straight
Photo by Chris Randle
Digital Folk is part video game, part costume party and incorporates live music and dance. As an installation presented by Plastic Orchid Factory as part of Dance in Vancouver and DIY@DIV it was presented as a looping performance that took place on November 23 through 24 at Left of Main in Vancouver.
According to the artists involved, the work was “built from the desire to revisit how communities gather to play music, dance and tell stories.” An interdisciplinary collaboration between dance artist James Gnam, visual artist Natalie Purschwitz, lighting designer James Proudfoot, lighting sound designer Kevin Legere and ten other dance artists (listed below) Digital Folk, is described by its creators as presenting a “playful environment … focused through the lens of video game culture to create an irreverent and interactive world of virtual and physical community, feedback and paradox.”
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concept / creative direction - James Gnam
scenography / costume design - Natalie Purschwitz
lighting design - James Proudfoot
sound design - Kevin Legere
choreography / performance - Jane Osborne, Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, James Gnam, Kayla DeVos, Walter Kubanek, Lexi Vajda, Clare Twiddy, Siobhan Sloane-Seale, Rob Abubo, Lorenz Santos
producer - Natalie LeFebvre Gnam
associate producer - Kayla Devos
stage management - Jonathan Kim
set build - Stuart Sproule
set design assistant - Candy Wang
publicity - Natalie LeFebvre Gnam
marketing design - Ahmed Khalil
past collaborators - Dario Dinuzzi, Vanessa Goodman, Bevin Poole Leinweber, Diego Romero, Shion Carter, Rachel Helten, Hannah Jackson, Rachel Silver, Kim Plough
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