Yael Kanarek took the stage for her second Upgrade! presentation after nearly two years since the first in April 2000. She had much to report regarding the status of the changes, updates and new collaborations, which have transpired in her on-going project, World of Awe. By request from a fellow colleague she took a few steps back to review the World of Awe schema since its inception: An original non-linear narrative written in fantastical realism that uses the ancient genre of the traveler?s tale to explore the connections between storytelling, memory and technology. The group likened the work to a modern day Canterbury Tales. Yael went on to review the net.art projects, Chapters 1 and 2 of the Traveler?s Journal and the Love Letters Email Dispatcher. Then she discussed the process related to the development of Music for World of Awe, which is a collaboration with composer, Yoav Gal. Yael and Yoav demonstrated how polyphony was created digitally, representing the multiple voices of the traveler and discussed the role the Atari 800XL plays. The haunting new sounds were composed during their residency at Harvestworks in spring 2002, with soprano Sarah Rivkin. Other projects discussed were the mRB, a collaboration with the architecture studio, Bnode, completed during an R&D residency at Eyebeam, Nowheres, which is a series of prints produced from digitally created desert landscapes. The evening concluded with a sneak preview of the work-in-progress, net.dance Portal, commissioned by Turbulence.org. Yael?s collaborators, dance filmmaker, Evann Siebens, composer, Yoav Gal, and flash programmer, Meeyoung Kim were present to demonstrate the work and provide varying personal points of view regarding the process and progress of the work.
