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 p ...

performances within

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

About

The Avatar Orchestra Metaverse consists of members based in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...

, North America and

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an ...

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

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

sound art Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound a ...

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

new media New media describes communication technologies that enable or enhance interaction between users as well as interaction between users and content. In the middle of the 1990s, the phrase "new media" became widely used as part of a sales pitch for ...

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 constructing buildings ...

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), Tina M. Pearson (

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

), Norman Lowrey (

USA The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

), Leif Inge (

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

), Frieda Korda (

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

), Max D. Well (Germany), Viv Corringham ( UK/USA), Johannes Riedmann (Germany), Chris Wittkowsky (Germany), Brenda Hutchinson (USA), Gema FB Martín (

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

), and Harald Muenz (

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

). 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 Ce ...

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

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

), Tim Risher (USA) Sachiko Hiyashi (Sweden), Liz Solo (Canada), and

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

( Australia) 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 "descent". It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, goddess or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearan ...

themselves are modified and used as the instruments within the performances. To do this, AOM members make use of a

HUD Hud or HUD may refer to: Entertainment * Hud (1963 film), ''Hud'' (1963 film), a 1963 film starring Paul Newman * Hud (1986 film), ''Hud'' (1986 film), a 1986 Norwegian film * HUD (TV program), ''HUD'' (TV program), or ''Heads Up Daily'', a Canadi ...

, 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 is multimedia that is delivered and consumed in a continuous manner from a source, with little or no intermediate storage in network elements. ''Streaming'' refers to the delivery method of content, rather than the content i ...

to various countries. Countries they've performed in include

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan ar ...

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

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, 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'', composed 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

Second Life {{band-stub