The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM) (founded March, 2007) is a large collaborative group of performers spread across three continents, who incorporate the use of online avatars alongside virtual instruments, to create a variety of

audio-visual Audiovisual (AV) is electronic media possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-tape presentations, films, television programs, corporate conferencing, church services, and live theater productions. Audiovisual service pro ...

performances within

Second Life ''Second Life'' is a multiplayer virtual world that allows people to create an Avatar (computing), avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user-created content within a multi-user online environment. Developed for person ...

About

The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse consists of members based in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

and

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. The core membership ranges between 8 and 12 members who are artists from

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary Time-based media, time-based Artistic medium, medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in Cross-genr ...

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

, new media,

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

and other disciplines. This, however, is not a fixed number, with the orchestra's additional members changing on a semi-regular basis. The group was founded by composers Hars Hefferman and Shintaro Miyazaki aka Maximillian Nakamura, who were active in the group until 2008. Current active members include transdisciplinary artists Björn Eriksson (

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

), Tina M. Pearson (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

), Norman Lowrey (

USA The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 contiguous ...

), Leif Inge (

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

), Frieda Korda (

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

), Max D. Well (Germany), Viv Corringham ( UK/USA), Johannes Riedmann (Germany), Chris Wittkowsky (Germany),

Brenda Hutchinson __NOTOC__ Brenda Hutchinson is an American composer and sound artist who has developed a body of work based on a perspective about interacting with the public and non-artists through personal, reciprocal engagement with listening and sounding. Hut ...

(USA), Gema FB Martín (

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

), and Harald Muenz (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

). Former members who have created and collaborated on works for the Orchestra include

Pauline Oliveros Pauline Oliveros (May 30, 1932 – November 24, 2016) was an American composer, accordionist and a central figure in the development of post-war experimental and electronic music. She was a founding member of the San Francisco Tape Music Center ...

(USA),

Stuart Dempster Stuart Dempster (born July 7, 1936 in Berkeley, California) is a trombonist, didjeridu player, improviser, and composer. Biography After Dempster completed his studies at San Francisco State College, he was appointed assistant professor at th ...

(USA), Jeremy Owen Turner (Canada), Andreas Mueller (Germany), Biagio Franca (

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

), Tim Risher (USA), Sachiko Hayashi (

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

/Sweden), Liz Solo (Canada), and

Stelarc Stelarc (born Στέλιος Αρκαδίου ''Stelios Arcadiou'' in 1946; legally changed his name in 1972) is a Cyprus-born Australians, Australian performance artist raised in the Melbourne suburb of Sunshine, Victoria, Sunshine, whose works ...

(

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

) among others. This membership makes use of

to perform telematically with each other, using virtual instruments which commonly created specifically for the composition they are used in. One example of these instruments is the 'Onomatophone', six spheres which move around the virtual space emitting separate sounds to the audience, the purpose of which being to change the sounds heard by different audience members depending on their own proximity with the separate spheres. In certain cases, the membership's

avatars Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

themselves are modified and used as the instruments within the performances. To do this, AOM members make use of a HUD, containing various sample sounds, which – when played – also highlight the avatar in some manner, to make the audience aware of which participant is 'playing' at that point. Due to the virtual nature of the group, they have been able to perform live around the world via

streaming Streaming media refers to multimedia delivered through a network for playback using a media player. Media is transferred in a ''stream'' of packets from a server to a client and is rendered in real-time; this contrasts with file downl ...

to various countries. Countries they've performed in include

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Italy, Spain, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, Canada and the United States. This had also allowed them to perform for various performative festivals, including Sound Symposium XVI.

Past Productions

* ''Vicky's Mosquitos'', by Harold Schellinx, directed by Miulew Takahe (2007) * ''Wee No Kresh'', composed by Andreas Müller (2007) * ''Rue Blanche'', composed by Björn Eriksson (2007) * ''Fadheit'', composed by Shintaro Miyazaki (2007) * ''Fragula'', composed by Björn Eriksson (2007) * ''SLippery SLope'', composed by Jeremy Owen Turner (2007) * ''Ursonate'', composed by Shintaro Miyazaki (2007) * ''Riesenrad'', composed by Jeremy Owen Turner (2007) * ''The Heart of Tones; mixed reality version'', composed by Pauline Oliveros (2007) * ''XAANADRuuL; Stockhausen's Pleasuredome 4 Sirius Business'', composed by Jeremy Owen Turner (2008) * ''PwRHm'', composed by Tina Pearson (2008) * ''Waste From Real Life'', composed by Biagio Francia (2008) * ''The New Economy'', composed by Biagio Francia (2008) * ''In Whirled (Trance) Formations'', composed by Norman Lowrey (2008) * ''Aleatricity'', composed by Andreas Müller (2008) * ''Pataphone Aomprovisation'', composed by AOM (2008) * ''Birth'', composed by Liz Solo (2008) * ''Pleiades'', composed by AOM & Tintinnabulate (2008) * ''Talarepsincrobiugh'', composed by Erik Rzepka (2008) * ''Avatars Brew'', composed by Leif Inge (2008) * ''Ritual'', composed by Tim Risher (2009) * ''Rotating Brains/Beating Heart'', composed by Franziska Schroeder, Tina Pearson, Pauline Oliveros, Norman Lowrey, and Andreas Müller (2010)

References

{{Authority control Second Life Virtual world communities