SantaCon 2006

On Saturday, December 16, agents again assembled in undercover Santa gear for the second annual Santa Barbara SantaCon. As one of the few cities in America with Santa in its name, the Santa Barbara contingent set out to prove that there's a special twisted quality to the local event that can't be equaled. Starting at Reds Espressobar and a skirmish with KCET-TV news, the Santas headed for disruptions at upscale clubspot, Couchez. Developing a taste for fish martinis, the fluffy red people then set out for the FishHouse where they disrupted holiday dinners with travesties of perfectly nice Christmas carols. Then the call of the Carousel proved irresistable. The redmen invaded the Chase Palm Park Carousel with a vengeance, mounting the wooden beasts without concern for their reputations. Tired of the spectacle, the frosted Santas headed for Cellar 205 for Christmas Tree Tossing, then on to State Street nightspots.

It Started at Reds

Sant-Elvis

Carousel-a-thon!

Elf Hell

Nasty Christmas Carols

Tree Sports

Santa wants you for Christmas

Frosty Frosted

Twisted Santas

Santas on State

UCSB Media Arts and Technology Showcase

On Friday, December 8, members of UCSB's Media Arts and Technology Graduate Program showed end-of-quarter projects to an invited audience at the Fishbon Pescadrome. Many of the presenters were familiar to Fishbon regulars. Angus, Alex and Heat Death performed with amazing upstage graphics, Graham and Wes improvised live with new algorithms and music, and Lance showed original music and graphics. After the event the evening turned social as DJs took over and kicked the energy up.

Showcase audience

Culture tour

On the fly

Graphic madness

Angus on drums

Adding in a sax

Followup beats

Tulle Wrestling.wmv

Cavemaking, Tulle Madness and Street Sculpture

On Wednesday, November 29th, secret Fishbon Event Lab agents used stretch fabric, old quilts, backdrops, moving blankets, carpet scraps and other assorted detritus to create a Magical Tent Cave Village in the Fishbon Pescadrome. The project was part of the process of developing the next event in the four seasons series of experiential multi-venue installations.
Later in the evening, two operatives took advantage of the abundant tulle fabric to invent Tulle Wresting, another great moment in live action gaming. Meanwhile on Santa Barbara's State Street, Michael and Dominique's Sculptures were installed and will be a holiday feature until January of 2007.

Tulle Madness

Michael and Dominique's
State Steet bear

Fishbon Retrospective

On Wednesday, November 22 Fishbon Event Lab operatives reviewed photos of past projects beginning with the creation of a 38 foot Fish Float for the 2002 Summer Solstice Celebration in Santa Barbara and ending with the Fishbon Apocalypse in October. Since more than 30 people (many of them new to Fishbon) worked on the piece and many more participated in the experiential performances, the retrospective provided an overview of the more than 25 projects that have been undertaken over the past several years.

Original Electronic Compositions, Apocalypse Secrets and Suprise Visit

On Wednesday, November 8th, undercover agents of the Fishbon Event Lab were treated to a triple threat evening of Music, Strategy and Math. Beginning with Chilean composer Juan Parra Cancino, who is currently working in the Netherlands, agents witnessed three amazing real time pieces with live video support from Alex. Cancino's compositions, include pure electronic and electro acoustic mixed media with solo instruments and ensembles and have been performed in Europe, North and South America in festivals such as Terza Prattica (NL), Primavera en La Habana (Cuba) Sonorities (Belfast, UK), "Synthese" (FR), "Visiones Sonoras" (MX),"Sonoimagenes" (AR), "Montevideo Percussion Festival" (URU), ICMC, "NWEAMO" (USA), "Rumor" (NL, "Punto Aparte" (ES), venues like Paradiso (NL), Sucre Theater (EC),Muziekgebouw (NL), Colon Theater (COL) and have been selected and awarded at the Bourges Electroacoustic Music Competition of 2003 and 2004. Next, Scott and Adam described their process for their live Labyrinth Soundscape performance for the Fishbon Apocalypse project. Later, Nathan described his devilish Labyrinth and why it seemed like you never knew what direction you were going. Finally, mathematician Mark Mineev shared remarks and answered questions. Mineev works at Los Alamos National Laboratory and is one of the world's premiere mathematical physicists.

For more information about Juan Parra Cancino and his music, visit his site at:

http://juanparra.sampleandhold.org/index.php/HomePage

Juan replies
to questions

Custom interface for Juan's electronic compositions

Scott reveals his
process for the
labyrinth score

Nathan talks about
the Labyrinth

Mathmetician Mark Mineev

Svankmejer's Faust and Who Booth Revelations

On Wednesday, November 1, Fishbon Event Lab commandos were treated to a rare screening of Jan Svankmeyer's amazing puppet and claymation enhanced version of the Faust legend. Set in contemporary Prague, actor Petr Cepek is handed a map on the streets of the city; it leads him to a shabby courtyard, a puppet theatre, and a bruising encounter with the powers of evil. Later in the evening, agents previewed selected takes from the Fishbon Apocalypse Who Booth. The four questions: Who are you? What do you want? What is your greatest fear? and What is your power? yielded a range of interesting and provocative responses.

Scene from Svankmejer's Faust

Faust in freefall

Who Are You?

Liliana in the Who Booth

Fishbon Apocalypse at the Pescadrome

On Wednesday and Thursday, October 25 and 26 undercover agents of the Fishbon Event Lab unvelied their collaborative Fishbon Apocalypse on their home turf at the Pescadrome. All three levels were part of the adventure with core teams of artists creating Hell's Mouth, Who Booth, the Labyrinth, Dark Woods, Chaos, Dragon and Paradiso. The event began with the 20 foot spectre of Hell's Mouth looming over the entrance with video by Brian and Ulrike and original music by Scott. The beautiful abstract structure was designed and built by Brian, Jon, David, Steve and their team. After being drawn in by the video loop, participants entered the Who Booth to be asked the important Hero Journey questions (Who are you? What do you want? What is your greatest fear? and What is your power?) The booth was designed and painted by Clay and built by Clay and Ron. Ethan, Michael, Dominique and Clay asked questions and recorded answers in DV. Satisfied that they were ready, heroes entered the Labyrinth made of 140 yards of stencilled canvas with eerie lighting by Jeffrey and original music written and performed by Scott and his team. The structure was designed and built by Nathan, Erin, Jonah and the Labyrinth group. After surviving the devilish folds of the Labyrinth, heroes were delivered into the Dark Woods with airy 16 foot black trees on white gauzy fabric, designed and painted by Dominique. Fortified with libations at the forest bar, participants entered Chaos with its spectacularly resilient Dragon designed and built by Alan, North, David, Cindy, Steve and their team. Video projections were provided by Wes and two amazing video artists from Switzerland. Lured by the tantalizing Demonettes (Holly P and Holly S, Carola, Renee, Jackie, Rachel and their troupe of Sirens), heroes fought the Dragon with swords by Sean and costumes by Carolyn and received their tickets to Paradise. In the sensual land of Paradiso (designed and built by Ron and Clay), participants relaxed and gathered strength for spectacular beats by DJ Mouse and his crew. Overall, the two night stand was epic with more than 30 agents working together to create a sublime heroic moment.

For more cool pix from Swiss artists Pascal Mueller and Matthias Specht check their Corebounce blog entry at: http://www.corebounce.org/wiki/Gallery/Apocalypse

Hell's Mouth

The Who Booth

Entering the Labyrinth

Scott performing Labyrinth music

In the Dark Woods