Fakeproject at the Fargo Theatre, 2003, and where it’s taken me.

Shaun Fort and I played a show at the 2003 Fargo Winter Carnivale, held in the Fargo Theatre. I recently had the pleasure of revisiting the show with Shaun (though we’ve maintained occasional contact, we’ve also more or less gone our separate ways). Of all the things I think stand out about that show (risky live electronic music performance, hand-built hardware, and a standing ovation to our public war protest) the one that I’m now the most fond of was our integration of state surveillance footage.

In the days preceding the show, we collected video from ND and MN interstate traffic camera systems. The end result was a pan-state time lapse view leading right up to the show, and the closest we could come to realtime monitoring using the state surveillance apparatus. This approach — infusing data local to the performance venue — has become central to my approach, from last summer’s “attack” on the Plains Art Museum to the scale-accurate photogrammetry-derived 3D model of downtown Fargo I produced for my recent show at Dempseys. Note: that’s a test render…

Andy Filer took some beautiful photos of the Carnivale, this one in particular inspired this post.