Fun With Videophones : The Hookup

ur two contestants hop from bar to bar trying to score; the imagery is sent back to the gallery via videophones where the audience gets to decide what happens next! “Fun with Videophones: The Hookup” takes place Thursday August 5, 2004, at Rx Gallery. Doors open at 8pm, show begins at 9pm. Rx Galllery, recently voted best gallery by the SF Weekly, is located at 132 Eddy Street, in San Francisco.

The premise is simple. During the show, our contestants are sent out accompanied by a “videophonographer” equipped with a video-enabled mobile phone, to capture the action as it unfolds. Each contestant will go “on the prowl”, trying to score in bars throughout San Francisco. The crew records the action, then emails it back to Rx Gallery, where the video is displayed. The audience then votes on what happens next: where to go, who to talk to, what to say. Basically, the audience writes the script!

“Fun with Videophones: The Hookup” is the first show ever to use video phone technology for the purposes of live entertainment, brought to you in-part by the creator of the Mobile Phone Photo Show. It’s reality art! It’s a spectacle! It’s embarrassing! It’s ridiculous! It’s fun with video phones!

A special afterparty produced by Soda will follow the show, with djs Philip Sherbourne (Soda, Flavorpill) and The Fresh Blend (Soda, Iris Distribution).

“Fun with Videophones: The Hookup”, is a production of Multiverse, the genre-bending art-party that always keeps you guessing. “Fun with Videophones: The Hookup”, was created by Kurt Bigenho and Harmon Leon, with assistance by Hal Philips. Visit the Multiverse website (www.multiverse.tv) for additional information.

Kurt Bigenho is a multidisciplinary artist, curator, and designer. More information about his projects and provocations can be found at his personal site, unfinished. (www.unfinished.com). He is the creator of The Mobile Phone Photo Show (www.mpps.tv), the first exhibition in the nation to examine the artistic potential of mobile phone photography, which was exhibited in San Francisco from May 20-June 18th, 2004. A primary on-going project is The Dept. of Shape Research, an organization which is currently hard at work developing many 1000s of completely useless shapes (www.dsr.org). He is the curator of Multiverse, a monthly art-party at Rx Gallery. He has shown work at New Langton Arts, Southern Exposure, four walls, Somarts, the Webbys, Rx Gallery, and the Oakland Museum of Art. He has a degree in architecture from UC Berkeley and consults as a brand, experience, and information strategist through his consultancy Kurt for Hire (www.kurtforhire.com); clients include Leapfrog Toys and Robert Mondavi Wines.

Harmon Leon is a San Francisco comedian/writer. He’s the author of the award-winning book The Harmon Chronicles, as well as a writer for Details, Salon, NPR, High Times, Black Book, Cosmopolitan, Wired, Stuff, Maxim, Salon and National Geographic. Harmon has appeared on the Howard Stern Show, and performed solo-comedy shows around the globe, including at The Montreal Comedy Festival, The Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Melbourne Comedy Festival. Recently, Harmon co-starred with OJ Simpson in a hidden camera show called Juiced. Harmon described the experience as “creepy.” His other TV credits include Penn&Teller’s Showtime series, the Jamie Kennedy Experiment, Blind Date, as well as writing and performing on the BBC.

Via:rhizome.org