RESERVATIONS NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
http://www.empac.rpi.edu
Participating artists: The Wooster Group; dumb type; Workspace Unlimited; Verdensteatret; Vox Vocal Ensemble and International Contemporary Ensemble; Per Tengstrand; Madlib; Cecil Taylor; Pauline Oliveros; Richard Siegal/The Bakery; Robert Normandeau, Fieldwork, Gamelan Galak Tika + Ensemble Robot, and more.
The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center opens with a celebration spanning three weekends, from October 3-19 (see schedule below).
EMPAC is located 2.5 hours north of New York City, 3 hours south of Montreal, and 3 hours west of Boston in Troy, NY. All opening events are free and open to the public, and most events require tickets. Reserve now, as seating is limited!
Dedicated to the advancement of artistic production integrating new approaches and research at the intersection of technology, media and the performing arts, a major emphasis at EMPAC is the commissioning of new performances and time-based installations.
EMPAC’s new 220,000-square foot building, designed by the British firm Grimshaw, is both a signature work of architecture and a unique facility that combines many specialized venues under one roof, including: a 1,200-seat concert hall; a 400-seat theater; two black-box studio spaces; and artist/researcher work spaces, all capable of simultaneous, acoustically isolated use. Technical innovations are found in all venues: from the Concert Hall’s adjustable fabric ceiling, which allows acoustical flexibility, and its near-silent HVAC; the Studios’ “tunable” tilting wall tiles; to the Theater’s 70-foot fly tower and computer controlled rigging.
Both a place and a program, EMPAC is an arts institution that draws strength from being part of a great research university. It operates nationally and internationally: attracting innovative artists, both renowned and emerging, from around the world; offering artists, researchers, and audiences opportunities that are available nowhere else; providing unsurpassed facilities for research and creative exploration, sending new artworks onto the global stage.
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 3 – 5, 2008
The Gala Weekend offers audiences an introduction to the EMPAC program and mission with performances ranging from 15th-century choral music performed in a 21st-century concert hall to interactive 360-degree video installations to contemporary performances that merge visual media, theater and sound. A Presidential Colloquy and the official Ribbon Cutting on October 3 begin the weekend—and the festivities. Public artistic performances and research presentations begin Saturday, October 4.
THURSDAY – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9 – 11, 2008
The Symposium Weekend brings together an internationally diverse group of directors from leading research institutions to share their work in art, design and media-based research, spanning augmented reality to the visualization and auralization of scientific data. Performances, installations and exhibitions continue throughout the long weekend.
FRIDAY – SUNDAY, OCTOBER 17 – 19, 2008
Homecoming and Family Weekend focuses on the greater Rensselaer community. Events and performances ranging in genre and style—including many student groups—will reflect the diversity of the Rensselaer campus activities.
For full schedule, reservations and further information, go to www.empac.rpi.edu.
For more information go to: http://www.empac.rpi.edu
