Google Glass Performance of Annie Berman’s STREET VIEWS at Galerie Patrick Ebensperger

On opening night, Berman further investigated the reality of embodiment/liveness/the artist’s presence/performance/live film, by performing a live broadcast of the installation, wearing Google Glasses ("Glass"). Her direct sight and interactions were broadcast via Google Glass,  livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Saturday 14 February at 8 p.m. CET (Berlin) / 7 p.m. GMT (London) / 2 p.m. EST (New York) / 1 p.m. CST (Chicago) / 11 a.m. PST (Los Angeles).

Presented during Berlinale in association with Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival and with support from Hardware Hack Lab. Aeon Magazine is now streaming the complete film version. In Twitter use #StreetViewsLive.

Watch STREET VIEWS live HERE.

In a piece that plays with ideas of presence and live art, video artist Annie Berman will open her installation with a real-time broadcast from her Google Glasses. The broadcast documents her own live performance, as she occupies her installation and invites live and virtual interaction from her audience. She will also distribute special masks for viewers who wish to remain anonymous, or at least obscure their faces.

STREET VIEWS is an 8 minute projected video that explores how virtual mapping alters our experience of space, identity, and one another. Set in New York City’s famed West Village, but "shot" within Google’s street view mapping application, STREET VIEWS attempts to navigate a surreal, disoriented new landscape. With humor and a light touch, Berman wanders through the streets of the big city frozen in timelessness, passing by pixelated faces, looking for something human on the digital display.

In its original conception, this piece utilizes a traditional disembodied voice of the narrator. When invited to install this piece in Germany, the artist decided to experiment with the idea of the disembodied narrator as another form of a virtual presence. Using a second monitor, she screens footage of herself delivering the narration, blurring her face to emphasize the virtual nature of this presence. The monitor also is given its own microphone as if it were a person reading at a conventionally staged live performance.

STREET VIEWS is now one of five featured media installations from Kassel’s Dokfest on exhibit at Galerie Patrick Ebesnperger, Berlin. The theme of the exhibition seeks to re-examine the scopes and realities of our present technological age.

AAbout HowlRound TV

HowlRound TV is a global, commons-based peer produced, open access livestreaming and video archive project stewarded by the nonprofit HowlRound. HowlRound TV is a free and shared resource for live conversations and performances relevant to the world's performing arts and cultural fields. Its mission is to break geographic isolation, promote resource sharing, and to develop our knowledge commons collectively. Participate in a community of peer organizations revolutionizing the flow of information, knowledge, and access in our field by becoming a producer and co-producing with us. Learn more by going to our participate page. For any other queries, email [email protected], or call Vijay Mathew at +1 917.686.3185 Signal/WhatsApp. View the video archive of past events.