I n t e r a k t i o n s - L a b o r / EMPAC Live Media + Performance Lab
Mark Coniglio
(Berlin / New York)
Recognized as a pioneering force in the integration of dance and media, composer/media
artist Mark Coniglio creates large-scale performance works that integrate
music, dance, theater and interactive media. With choreographer Dawn Stoppiello
he is co-founder of Troika Ranch,
a dance theater company committed to creating hybrid, media intensive performances.
As Troika Ranch, they have been honored with a New York Dance and Performance
"Bessie" Award, an honorary mention at Prix Ars Electronica, and
the "Eddy" award from Live Design magazine.
From the start, Coniglio's artistic practice has included the creation of
custom interactive systems that allow performers to manipulate video, sound,
and light in real-time. His first technological breakthrough came in 1989
when he created MidiDancer, a wireless system that allowed a performer to
interactively control music. His passion for giving control to the performer
led him to create the award-winning software Isadora®, a flexible graphic
programming environment that provides interactive control over digital media.
Isadora is now the tool of choice for hundreds of artist's worldwide including
such notables as The Wooster Group, Morton Subotnick, Bebe Miller and the
Royal Shakespeare Company.
A native of Nebraska, he received his BFA degree in music composition in 1989
from California Institute of the Arts where he studied with electronic music
pioneer Morton Subotnick. From 1990-94, he taught courses in interactive music
at CalArts and was an integral member of the Center for Experiments in Art,
Information and Technology. Coniglio is the recipient of two consecutive ARM
Fellowships from Dance Theater Workshop (2004/05) and was facilitator for
that program in 2006. His writings about new media in performance have appeared
in numerous books and journals, including "New Visions In Performance",
"La Scena Digitale: Nuovi Media Per La Danza" and Movement Research
Journal. He relocated from New York to Berlin, Germany in 2008.