Contact: Kay Fike Jones
Mississippi State's first multimedia performance series presented over the World Wide Web debuts later this week with both "real-time" and "virtual" openings.
The Thursday [Dec. 3] presentations are the first for the new Neural Audio Imaging Virtual Reality Digital Broadcast Network (NAIVR) recently created by Paras Kaul, an assistant art professor at the university.
"FLUX ZONE" is the work of Kaul and six graduate students in the art department's three-year-old master's degree program in electronic visualization.
All members of Kaul's advanced multimedia class, the students include Kristian Broems, Gloria Garcera, Joe Phoebus, Jeanne Richard, and Jeff Thurston. Their independent, multimedia presentations include a contemporary version of a fable, a take-off on a classic puppet show and a version of Franz Kafka's "Metamorphosis."
The performances may be viewed at webserv.art.msstate.edu/opening1/fluxzone.html.
On Friday [the 4th], a real-time opening and reception for Kaul, the students and the new network will be held 7:30-9 p.m. at The Bean Counter cyber cafe at 408 Highway 12 West in Starkville.
In addition to the art department, the virtual reality network is receiving support from MSU's Office of Research and the College of Arts and Sciences Academic Excellence Fund.
Kaul, who is completing her first year on the faculty, holds master's degrees in computer graphics and animation/video from the Art Institute of Chicago and in photography from California State University at Sacramento.
For additional information on FLUX ZONE or the network, telephone Kaul at (601) 325-6676 or e-mail her at paras@ra.msstate.edu.