Syzygy 26/02/99-28/03/99, Beaconsfield Arts, London
was a major project developed by 0rphan drift and the Cybernetic Culture Research Unit for Beaconsfield Arts London, and funded by the Arts Council of England.

Responding to the prevalent narratives around the coming millennium and Y2K, the project was an alternative calendrical system based on five elemental avatars; numerically based cultural machines embodying insistent energetic tendencies then present. The system was made manifest in an installation functioning as the ground for a series of audio visual performances and workshops. The five avatars each presided over a 3 day weekend of programming, their characteristics leading sound and image production as well as choreography and audience engagement.

CCRU developed workshops around the calendrical system while 0rphan drift produced the installation, static works, video and live mixing. We also directed commissioned collaborators for events; the physical performers Traxis and sound by Ocosi, Apache 61 and Dmitri Nakov . CCRU commissioned live audio by Kodwo Eshun and Kode9.

Video
Avatars and static works
Avatar Tools for Engineering Demon Convergence in a Space
Ritual

Excerpt from Review by Jim Flint, Mute Magazine, issue 13

“While the CCRU was more interested in the theoretical underpinning of the show , the 0rphan¹s side concerned itself with the dynamic reconstruction of various numerically based cultural machines, and to this extent there was a fictional element.- 0D used the notion of the demon in its various forms (though they prefered the term ¹avatar) to code the various elements they were trying to make coherent within the contemporary mediasphere. Thus we were shown the avatar as a unit of sorcery; as a figure historically used to provide an ‘informational outside¹ with physics, a link between logic and noise, as in Maxwell¹s demon; as a software agent, as semi-intelligent and semi-autonomous code-bot; and as a disruptive figure of darkness. For 0D, all of these have in common the casting of the demon as a multiple and individious unit of ontological disintegration, but one that is implicit in any act of communication- something which the angelogies of Michel Serres have already taught us. By recasting each node/operation on the CCRU numagram as an avatar or demon- the art on display- the collages, dancers and audiovisual events- -expressed each avatars realisation as a tendency in cultural production. Thus one avatar, KATAK, grew out of the conflict between electricity and sunlight and linked to belief systems and sacrifice, to the concentrations of power typical of fanatacism, while another, XES, was born of the reality of total surface presented by the camera. One creative conflict, one source of power, for all five of the avatars was the duality that exists between tools and weapons, each able to perform the function of either depending upon the circumstance.”

0[RPHAN]D[RIFT>]  TRACK

TWIN FOCUS :   	KATAK   THE DESOLATOR    NETSPAN[5<>4]
TIME RELATION:	time rider. passes on time.
TRAVELS IN:		lightening, electricity. thunder storms.
COLOURS:		reds and electric blue vein.
DYNAMIC PRESENCE:	pressure, heat, volcano, sun gods, bladed sun 	
			tongues and spirals, friction, fusion. 
LIGHT ASPECT:		lasers, radiation burns, (artificial) electricity.
SNAKE ASPECT:	serpent battles, vibrational density of conductors,
			the lightening snake connector.
METAL ASPECT:	nuclear conductor, unstable atomic structures.
BLOOD ASPECT:	spreading to the outside, oxygen/ heart system, 				bloodlines,heart sacrifices to the sun.
DIGITAL ASPECT:	sun pulse, laser.
MAGNETIC FIELDS:	radiating out and targetting in.

TWIN FOCUS : 	DJINXX         SPL/CE     NETSPAN[6<>3]
TIME RELATION:	invisibles. outside time.
TRAVELS IN:		metal weapons, military in our time, evolving into 				machine feedback.
COLOURS:		green and black.
DYNAMIC PRESENCE:	nomad war machine, fluid metal body, digital 
			reduction, antagonistic, memory lapses, warrior 				turbulence, dilated now.
LIGHT ASPECT:		strobing.
SNAKE ASPECT:	danger held here, speed catatonia rush(from zero to 
			speed), hiss rattle, immediate responding, predator 			effects, total body memory.
METAL ASPECT:	weapons, spike jewellry, iridium, acid etch.
BLOOD ASPECT:	autosacrifice, blood becoming smoke, personified 				blood, burning blood to summon the nomad war 				machine.
DIGITAL ASPECT:	preverb, the sound of time travel, fast chittering 				strobe, turbulence of different speeds at the same 				time.
MAGNETIC FIELDS:	full on labyrinth, spiky and relentless.

TWIN FOCUS :	ODDUBB       ODOBI/XES     NETSPAN[7<>2]
TIME RELATION:	time rider. passes on time.
TRAVELS IN:		the essential of the desiring machine. incites your 				want, enjoys your seduction. knows ecstasy and deep 			pain.
COLOURS:		radiating golds and coppers, alien pinks and reds.
DYNAMIC PRESENCE:	physical takeover, physical telepathy, trickster 
			tease, the third eye, bacterial sex, strange 	
			attractors, stuff finds you, distraction and glamour, 				luxurious deceiver.
LIGHT ASPECT:		glitter, glimmer, glow, prismatic light, sun bathing, 				colour absorption.
SNAKE ASPECT:	erotic tentacles, kundalini zones, skin memory and 					absence, tempter.
METAL ASPECT:	magnetic attractors, currency(deception), precious 					metals.
BLOOD ASPECT:	circulation- currents, dangerous communication, 					transport system.
DIGITAL ASPECT:	complexity, strobe doubles, skins/surfaces/layers of
			perception, planes of sound, feedback, unusual familiars.
			she makes visual effects by telepathy.
MAGNETIC FIELDS:	telepathic strange attractor labyrinths.

TWIN FOCUS :	MURMUR       NETSPAN[8<>1]
TIME RELATION:	time rider. passes on time.
TRAVELS IN:		camouflage, tidal rhythms and perceptual warping. 
			webmaker, tracker, navigator.
COLOURS:		violet pattern invisibles and ultraviolet blues.
DYNAMIC PRESENCE:	immersive, fluid, water monsters and waves, 
			morphing, the old ones, alchemical.
LIGHT ASPECT:		lights that search, light bending, moonlight, cold light, 
			deep heavy darks.
SNAKE ASPECT:	skin camouflage, navigates in all spatial planes (fluid 			spine), vibrational ocean.
METAL ASPECT:	circuitry, wirings, optical fibres, liquid metals 				(mercury), shifting between solid and liquid states.
BLOOD ASPECT:	lunar bleeding, womb blood, heavy blood.
DIGITAL ASPECT:	fluid image mutation and morphing, echoes undersea, 			wet metal sound effects, slow sound diffraction, 				gradually falls apart.
MAGNETIC FIELDS:	perceiver and invisible time tides (rip tides). 					there is no zero.

TWIN FOCUS :	UTTUNUL    IIS       NETSPAN[9<>0]
TIME RELATION:	invisibles. outside time.
TRAVELS IN:		digital unlife, flatline, feeds blood to the shadows.
COLOURS:		shadow luminescence.
DYNAMIC PRESENCE:	machine memory deep inside, blanks around minute 				lines 	of detail,the time travel avatar, extraterrestrial 			geometries, molecular movement, disassembly, the 			furthest out(pluto) and the deepest within(core), 				undead, zombi. 
LIGHT ASPECT:		shadow, eclipse shadow, thresholds, blackmirror, total 			dark but seeringly light.
SNAKE ASPECT:	snake inside itself, shadowbody, body without organs, 			virtual states of snakeness, blank eyes.
METAL ASPECT:	core of the earth, cthell, molten underworld, zombie 			powder.
BLOOD ASPECT:	bruises under ice, total stillness, blood the substance, 			artificial blood trails that cuts through time.
DIGITAL ASPECT:	smooth changes, sub bass, the high pitch of the nervous 				system, things get replaced but you don't know why. 
MAGNETIC FIELDS:	full on labyrinth, endlessly folding moebius strips.

5 to 2  p r e s s u r e  through  s c h i z o  to path of ruin exhaling insanity into 1 the
 I n v I s I b l e s through w e b m a k e r  to path of breath into p h y s i c a l t e l e p a t h y through m a g n e t I c m u t a t I o n  into  t r i c k s t e r  t o u c h . (the crypt)



4 to 8  m e l t I n g  through the gate r a k a t a  into  the I n v I s I b l e  through 
w e b m a k e r into  p e r c e p t I o n w a r p, the spider perceiver, undersea tracker


54 twin.  P R E S S U R E>  schizo  <M E L T I N G
The double headed axe. Mean symmetries. warmth and rage (intolerance to ideal forms, lies. destruction, an axe in the middle of the forhead or meltdown. schizo ) Heat and rage. Being 'charged'.  fire stories. rumbling storms. pressure before the rains. blood pressure. sun heat/light and cold heat of electricity. The artificial night (beginning of cybertime).time layers and debts. spending and being spent. Sun toungues from spiral to blade to laser/atomic. atomic breath. fed with energy. devours energy.



5 to 6 p r e s s u r e to gate of abduction. radiation. artificial elelment to a b d u c t I o n
inside ticking. a hypnotists ritual. getting between beats. particle clock. top side of meltdown.desperate heat


36 twin a b d u c t I o n < cyclone swarm guillotine> l a b y r I n t h


2 to 3 T r I c k s t e r t o u c h through gate of seizure. excess to a b d u c t I o n 
spiky and relentless. taking A death. a centipede in cyberspace 



27 twin.  
T R I C K S T E R T O U C H> magnetic mutation current  <P H Y S I C A L T E L E P A T H Y  
  erotic, magnetic, currency waves, cellullar radiating. amplified sensory perception, physical telepathy, touch, infinite response, it finds you, trickster, tease, dangerously open, mutable, deceptively present, 3rd eye. skin. haptic. leaking information. ecstasy and pain. physical takeover. fed on desire. always hungry. warnings.(when osun falls down danger is near. 5 bells)  lines of flight .everything is real. (artificial/natural melt into eachother)


2 to 9. T r I c k s t e r t o u c h  through  m a g n e t I c m u t a t I o n into t e l e p a t h y 
through the gate of recollection and brink of the deep into the I n v I s I b l e through 
w e b m a k e r into p e r c e p t I o n w a r p  through the gate of sustenance into b l o o d s h a d o w s (and around pounding heat loop)  t I m e v a m p I r e      


7 to 1 t e l e p a t h y through m a g n e t I c m u t a t I o n to path of smoke visions and bloodletting serpent into p r e s s u r e  melting through s c h I z o to path of ruin exhaling insanity into 
I n v I s I b l e s 

1 to 0  I n v I s I b l e s through webmaker to w a r p through gate of sustenance to
 b l o o d s h a d o w s through black mirror/iron ocean  to f l a t l I n e 


8 to 3 w a r p d r e a m h u n t e r  through web maker to path of breath into 
t e l e p a t h y through m a g n e t I c m u t a t I o n  to t r I c k s t e r t o u c h  to excess and the gate of seizure to a b d u c t I o n 


18 twin  I N V I S I B L E S > web maker <P E R C E P T I O N W A R P
liquid camouflage. hunting dream time. scales. wet  metal.
vibrational tracking. tide memory. waiting. bent light. heavy fluid. spider vision.
(code dream.liquid code). aquatic spirits and fast chameleons. not ruled by dark and light
from submerged to flying. spinal fluid. oceans of time. chimera monsters. deceptive slowness. fluid power. fed on dreams and mercury. makes monsters and waves 


8 to 9 w a r p d r e a m limbo at phase change feed ing blood to the shadows through the gate of sustenance( time hacking) into b l o o d s h a d o w s and around the pounding heat loop 


90 twin  B L O  O D S H A D O W S> iron ocean <F L A T L I N E
time vampire. dark sun. ice. shadow luminescence.black mirror. strange attraction. undead. a presence linking market and burial ground. dont always know what it is made of. (substance disassembly)  

0 to 6 chaos mobeuis strip endless mutation darkness 

Although the Hybridised mix showcases the main avatar visuals, it was produced before the Syzygy event took place in order to be available for sale. The Katak and IIS excerpts here mix newer samples and filmed elements and reveal the depths of intensity achieved during the extended live mixes on the night. The other two excerpts give a tantalising glimpse of 0D Syzygy avatar nights.

Hybridized
This video mix was made to showcase the Syzygy avatars, using sampled, filmed, feedback generated and digitally warped footage.

The audio tracks for each avatar were commissioned for Hybridized and were part of the DJ sets during the Syzygy performances.

2:9 Night Documentation
Audio mixed by Ocosi
Performers Natasha Desmerais, Holly Davey and Elaine Thomas.
Although shot on mini DV in the dark, this gives some idea of the atmosphere and relationship between the performers, video and soundscape. The dance eerily manifests the fusion of the Xes and IIS avatars.

Video length: 11.40 minutes

5:4 Night Documentation
Audio mixed by Ocosi
Performers Natasha Desmerais, Holly Davey and Elaine Thomas.
The man behind the camera is perhaps possessed by the avatar being summoned here. Coupled with the scarcity of filming light, this makes for an interesting record of the night’s brush with insanity, perfectly capturing the performers’ interpretation of the Katak frequency.

Video length: 6.03 minutes

9:0 IIS Mix (excerpt)
For the 90 event, Surface mixed his tracks into an experimental electronica soundscape. There were no performers. The absence of audio here is intentional. IIS whispers in your head, emerging from the darkness.

Video length: 13.21 minutes

5:4 Katak Mix (excerpt)
Audio by Scorn, with Coil and Jack Dangers.
Tracks: Sleep When Home, Dreamspace (Shadow vs Executioner mix), The End (Nightmare Mix), Silver Rain Fall and Doors.
Performers Natasha Desmerais, Holly Davey and Elaine Thomas.
The mix opens with a dance rehearsal, introducing the evolving presence of the dancer body in the video throughout the Katak night.

Duration: 22.03 minutes

This video mix was made to showcase the Syzygy avatars, and was for sale at Syzygy and thereafter.
The audio tracks for each avatar were commissioned for Hybridized and were part of the DJ sets during the Syzygy performances.
Some of this work has been remixed for CTM Berlin, 2013.

5:4 Katak. Hybridised Mix.
Audio: Dead Spider Position by Kanal
Video length: 6.20 minutes

3:6 Splice. Hybridised Mix.
Audio: Arsebender 2000 by Sadist
Video length: 2.56 minutes

2:7 Xes. Hybridised Mix.
Audio: Devil Doll by Ocosi
Video length: 4.15 minutes

1:8 Murmur. Hybridised Mix.
Audio: Surge 8:1___7:2 by Kode 9
Duration: 9.20 minutes

9:0 IIS. Hybridised Black Box Remix.
Audio by Kanal
Video length: 7.30 minutes

Spiderman. Video for Apache 61 track release.
Audio: Spiderman by Apache 61
Video length: 5.53 minutes

9006
Audio: Time Artificial by YourFace
This mix, fusing 90 and 36 frequencies, was first screened at Raindance Film Festival in the same year.
Duration: 10.40 minutes

Radius Suck was produced by TASK and 9(orphan)d>(rift) for SYZYGY, Beaconsfield Arts, London 1999.

Track Listing:
TASK – Skinsect / KANAL – The Puppet Masters / KANAL – Supplicant and the Turnkey [Ocosi Mix] / su8m3rg3d – TO [Blankmove Mix] / su8m3rg3d – 040398 [Ocosi funk] / OCOSI – Devil Doll / HEYLECK – [Unknown] / SADIST – Katak [Weak Pulse] / SURFACE – Fallen [Erem – DJ Turn Remix] / KANAL – Dead Spider Position / TASK – Skin Collage / SURFACE – KD7 / OCOSI – SKin Maze
(voice – Ranu O.D.)

Nomo was released by the CCRU on the occasion of SYZYGY, Beaconsfield Arts, London 1999.Recording reputedly made by the Trinitarian Church of Dagon in Dunwich, Suffolk England, circa 1961-62. Used by kind permission of the Archive of the Binomics Institute.

All other sonic engineering by Katasonics/Kode9 for CCRU.

Text by Professor Barker and Professor Stillwell used by kind permission of Miskatonic Virtual University, the Cthulu Club and the Stilwell Estate. Special Thanks to Professor Barker for use of his archive at MVU.