Demotic ... of or pertaining to the current ordinary everyday form of a language; of or pertaining to the common people.

"Demotic" is a performance work about American Memory, a single character whose many voices are woven together into a complex texture of language, sound, and music to create a kind of covert national anthem. How do we best portray the multiplicity underlying the American experience? In "Demotic," Artists Antoinette LaFarge and Robert Allen harness the Internet and the stage to create a performance work exploring American Memory. Made possible through the Beall Center's high speed connectivity, the performance features a single live actor who draws on an ensemble of dispersed actors, avatars, sound artists, and everyday online citizens. From this tour-de-force improvisation emerges both a complex texture of language, sound, and music and a contemporary national anthem.

Dates: 
July 29, 2004 to July 31, 2004