YOUARENOWHERE Set for COIL Festival

As part of the tenth edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122 and The Invisible Dog Art Center present the world premiere of YOUARENOWHERE by Andrew Schneider, a theater artist, best known as a video designer and performer in The Wooster Group (2007 -2014), whose work is rooted at the intersection of performance and technology. YOUARENOWHERE experiments with the virtues of sensory overload via quantum mechanics, parallel universes and Craigslist's "Missed Connections." Battling glitchy transmissions, crackling microphones and lighting instruments falling from the sky, one guy on a mission and a tricked-out interactive new-media landscape merge to transform physical space, warp linear time and short-circuit preconceived notions of what it means to be here now. YOUARENOWHERE is created by Schneider with Peter Musante, Christine Shallenberg and Omar Zubair and is produced by Shelley Carter.

Schneider's background in interactive and wearable electronics led him to make theater in atypical ways. Rather than starting with a script in a rehearsal room, Andrew begins creating theater much like the modern musician - at a laptop. Schneider uses creative coding and interactive electronics to prototype and program his shows. The majority of the lights, video, sound, and even text is programmed and "played back" during the performance across multiple networked computers and software programs.

Schneider also employs wearable sensors in the prototyping (making/rehearsal) of his shows. His vocals are sometimes mapped to lighting cues. Movement and gesture are mapped to sound effects and video cues through the use of tri-axis accelerometers, wireless Xbee radio networks, and custom Max patches. The imperfections and "glitches" of this process are preserved in the final product of this show.

Performances of YOUARENOWHERE takes place January 8-17 (see schedule above) at The Invisible Dog, critics are welcome as of Friday January 9 and Monday Jan 12, which will also serve as the official opening. The Invisible Dog is located at 51 Bergen Street in Brooklyn. Tickets are available online at ps122.org and by phone at 212.352.3101.

Andrew Schneider has been creating original works for theater, video, and installation since 2003. Rooted at the intersection of performance and technology, Schneider's work critically investigates our over-dependence on being perpetually connected in an always-on world. He creates and performs solo performance works, large-scale dance works, builds interactive electronic art works and installations, and was a Wooster Group company member (video/performer) from 2007-2014. He is the recipient of the Tom Murrin Performance Award, and will be creating a new experiential light and space performance piece (currently titled Unified Field Theory) as Artist-In-Residence at Dixon Place Theater and in cooperation with Abrons Arts Center throughout 2015/16. Schneider's original performance work in NYC includes Field (2014), Tidal (2013) curated by Laurie Anderson as part of the River to River festival; YOUARENOTHERE (work-in-progress, 2013) at the Performing Garage; Wow+Flutter (2010) at The Chocolate Factory Theater; five Avant-garde-arama!works (2005-2013) at PS122; Pleasure (2009) at Issue Project Room; and resident artist (2006) at LEMURplex. His work in Chicago includes True+False (2007) and Strategies Against Architecture (2008) among others, both at The University of Chicago as a resident artist. He creates wearable, interactive electronic art works such as the Solar Bikini, (a bikini that charges your iPod), and wireless programmable sound effect gloves. His interactive work has been featured in such publications as Artforum and Wired, among others and at the Center Pompidou in Paris. He also works with various musical acts including Fischerspooner (projections/performer), Kelela (projections/lighting), and AVAN LAVA (lighting/percussion/vocals). Schneider has served as an Adjunct Professor at NYU and has taught courses on Technology and Performance at the Interactive Telecommunications Program and at Bowdoin, and Carleton Colleges. Andrew holds a BFA in Theater Arts from Illinois Wesleyan University and a Masters Degree in Interactive Telecommunications from NYU. He lives in New York City. Find out more at andrewjs.com

YOUARENOWHERE was commissioned by PS122 and Mass Live Arts with support from the Jerome Foundation and was made possible in part by New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. Development residency provided by Mass Live Arts, an AIRspace residency at Abrons Arts Center, and a space residency at The Bushwick Starr.