In Invisible Cities, Italo Calvino describes his imaginary Sophronia, made up of two half-cities, part circus and part stone.This video shares excerpts from the Sophronia Project, a multimedia installation and performance work inspired by Calvino’s Sophronia. Created by digital artist Joellyn Rock, multimedia composer Kathy McTavish, netprov writer Rob Wittig and a team of collaborators, the Sophronia project was originally presented at the Walker Art Center for Northern Spark in June 2014. In the installation, a glowing tent invites a mischievous mix of digital video and live silhouettes, interacting in a playful participatory space. The audience has multiple modes for participation. Via mobile devices, feed contributions into the Graffiti Angel software, a text generator that washes the walls with crowd-sourced story fragments. Or, enter the circus with your body, move to the music, mimic the mayhem. In the spirit of carnivalesque celebrations, the audience plays along with Multifficient the Multi-tasker, Textana the Texted Girl, Connectiva the Cord Charmer, Pollinatrix the Pollinator, and the Amazing Dr Calvino.
