The Australian Network for Art & Technology (ANAT) announce
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The final event in our series of public presentations emanating from
** Alchemy **
International Masterclass for New Media Artists and Curators
in partnership with
Brisbane Powerhouse - Centre for the Live Arts, Queensland,
Australia, May/June 2000
and live on the internet at http://www.anat.org.au/alchemy
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Over the last six weeks, ANAT and participants of the project  Alchemy: International Masterclass for New Media Artists and Curators have been in residence at the Brisbane Powerhouse - Centre for the  Live Arts.  Since 8 May over sixty artists, curators, theorists and  technical wizards have transformed the Courier Mail rooftop terrace  and various other (expected and unexpected) spaces throughout the  Powerhouse venue into an intensive learning environment.

To culturally contextualise the project, satellite events - combining fora with open days - have been held, to give the public and media an opportunity to view the work-in-progress produced by participants.

This evening will be a mix of works in progress and unexpected outcomes.  Part game, part performance but mostly experiments and works in progress from participants who have been acquiring new skills, brainstorming new ideas and developing new forms of collaboration throughout the project.

During the Alchemy masterclass, all participants have been provided with 24 hour access to a lab., exhibition / installation, performance space and workrooms in the exciting new Brisbane Powerhouse - Centre for the Live Arts <http://www.brisbanepowerhouse.com>.  During this week - the fifth week of the project, the focus has been on performance and hybrid practices.  Filmmakers, performers, artists and creators from a range of disciplines have been exchanging ideas and experience and developing new forms of collaboration.

This project has been about experimentation and exploration rather than production, so outcomes will be about sound grabs, info bytes and interrupted ideas, so come expecting the unexpected!

Tutors for the project this final week of the project are:

* Tess de Quincy and Laura Jordon, respectively performance artist and new media artists.  Tess and Laura have collaborated on performance and research events including Triple Alice, an ongoing project over three years which seeks to provide a space for cross disciplinary research and development;

* Blast Theory is a group of four artists based in London (two of  whom are currently in Brisbane) who make theatre, installations and new media work.  The group's recent work includes 10 Backwards, Kidnap and Desert Rain. In Kidnap (1998) the group ran a lottery in which the first two prizes was to be kidnapped and held at a secret location for two days whilst under constant observation by a web cam.
* Desert Rain (1999) is a collaboration with the University of Nottingham's Computer Research Group.  The project is a game, a performance and an installation in which 6 visitors collaborate to find a target in a virtual world.  "Currently the most innovative multimedia group in British theatre" Theater Der Zeit

Participants currently at the Masterclass are:

Bruce Gladwin (Vic), Christiawan (Indonesia), Grisha Coleman (NY),  Jane Schneider (Qld), Kamal Krishna (Qld), Keith Armstrong (Qld),  Kelli Mccluskey (WA), Mari Velonaki (NSW), Clare McGrogan (Qld), Mike Stubbs (UK), Monica Narula (India), Peter Toy (WA), Raewyn Turner (NZ), Rebecca Youdell (Qld), Rolando Ramos (NSW), Sam James (NSW), Sarah Neville (SA), Sophea Lerner (NSW), Steve Bull (WA), Vanessa Mafe-Kean (Qld).

Other artists who have been participating in the project over previous weeks may also be participating remotely!  A full list of
participants and tutors is available on the Alchemy website!

For additional information, visit http://www.anat.org.au/projects/alchemy/
or contact Amanda McDonald Crowley on 0419 829 313 or at amanda@anat.org.au
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Alchemy is made possible with the generous financial assistance of the Daniel Langlois Foundation the Young and Emerging Artists Initiative (an initiative of the New Media Arts Fund of the Australia Council), the federal government's arts funding and advisory body) the Australian Film Commission, and has received further support from Arts Queensland, the South Australian Government through Arts SA, Arts Tasmania and the NSW Ministry for the Arts.  The event is being sponsored by Apple Computers (Australia), Choice Connections, Macromedia and Adobe Systems Pty Ltd.