Michael Manning - Blood Red Lost Head Dead Falcon: The Nibelungen -

ロサンゼルスを拠点に活動しているマイケル・マニング(Michael Manning)から、新しいマルチメディア・プロジェクト、"Blood Red Lost Head Dead Falcon: The Nibelungen"が始動したよというメールが届いていた。
ニーベルンゲンの歌(Die Nibelungenlied)を、デジタルアニメーションやビデオ、ライブパフォーマンス、ダンス、人形劇といったさまざまなメディアを使って再構築するというものらしい。

Dear Friends, Family, Fans and Creative Collaborators:

As some of you know, I've been working on a new multimedia project - Blood Red Lost Head Dead Falcon: The Nibelungen. As partners of the LA Opera's Ring Festival 2010, we will be presenting a workshop production of the piece at Highways in Santa Monica June 25th - 27th. For those who weren't aware, a little background:

The Nibelungen is a 12th century German epic poem that inspired Wagner's Ring Cycle operas. In 2008-2009 I drew a series of illustrations for an English language adaptation of The Nibelungen that will soon be published as a book. My Nibelungen illustrations in turn served as the inspiration for the piece we are currently working on.

This collaboration with my partner Lyn Gaza, writer Aaron Henne and movement artist Julie Lockhart will be a wild collaged performance piece that updates this classic tale of love, death and betrayal for modern times. Lyn and I are the project's visual directors and will be creating the animated projections and overseeing the creation of the visual world.

Although this is a workshop, we are trying to realize the piece as fully as possible to attract support for a full production in 2011. To that end, we are collaborating with a fantastic group of artists to create original costumes, props, set pieces, and projections. We also have a talented cast of five actors, a lighting designer, sound designer and musicians in the mix. Although we are lucky to have promotional support from the LA Opera and Highways, we are funding this work out of our own pockets.

And this is where you can help. The Nibelungen is now on Kickstarter, a funding platform for independent creative projects. Although our actual budget is much higher, we set our minimum goal on the low side ($2500) so that we'd have a better chance of making our deadline. Projects that don't meet their goal by a set date receive no money and no one is charged for their pledge.

The good news is that we have met and exceeded our goal of $2500 and if you've already contributed, our thanks! However, we have much farther to go and if we are able to make a project of this scope happen, any support will go a long way toward helping us realize our dream. We know that times are tight but even a small pledge will help. In return for $5 or more, you'll get cool stuff (stickers, t-shirts, artwork and more) as well as our undying gratitude. How great is that?! And if you would like to support us, but are not comfortable using Kickstarter, please feel free to contact me for other options.

To make a pledge on Kickstarter and see a list of Nibelungen "rewards" please follow this link:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/BloodRed/blood-red-lost-head-dead-falcon-the-nibelungen

If you would like to learn more about our project, please visit our Facebook page here:
http://www.facebook.com/bloodredlosthead

Visit the LA Opera Ring Festival here:
http://www.ringfestivalla.com/index.php?view=details&id=1119%3Ablood-red-lost-head-dead-falcon-the-nibelungen&option=com_eventlist&Itemid=83

Buy tickets to the show here (click on "buy tickets" - left hand side):
http://www.highwaysperformance.org/

And finally, for those of you in the Los Angeles area, we will be hosting an all-ages benefit event at Bootleg Theater on May 22nd with full bar and three amazing bands: Totimoshi, EL-Haru Kuroi, Distorted Pony. More information to follow!

Thank you all for your interest and support - and my apologies if you've already received this notice from Lyn (there's a fair amount of crossover between our mailing lists).

The Spidergarden.net- The Art of Michael Manning
In A Metal Web: The Art of Michael Manning