sophronia two

On the walls, the graffiti angel mixes text and digital imagery gleaned from the project database…In a glowing tent, the audience can play along with projected video and digital animations to become part of the carnival ...



^ about

From Invisible Cities, by Italo Calvino:
“The city of Sophronia is made up of two half-cities. In one there is a great roller coaster with its steep humps, the carousel with its chain spokes, the Ferris wheel of spinning cages, the death-ride with the crouching motorcyclists, the big top with the clump of trapezes hanging in the middle. The other half-city is of stone and marble and cement, with the bank, the factories, the palaces, the slaughterhouse, the school, andall the rest. One of the half-cities is permanent, the other is temporary, and when the period of its sojourn is over, they uproot it, dismantle it, and take it off, transplanting it to the vacant lots of another half-city. And so every year the day comes when the workmen remove the marble pediments, lower the stone walls, the cement pylons, take down the Ministry, the monument, the docks, the petroleum refinery, the hospital, load them on trailers, to follow from stand to stand their annual itinerary. Here remains the half-Sophronia of the shooting-galleries and the carousels, the shout suspended from the cart of the headlong roller coaster, and it begins to count the months, the days it must wait before the caravan returns and a complete life can begin once again.”

The collaborative project offered both physical and virtual space where participants could spin their own stories of Sophronia. During performances, guests contributed on Twitter (#sophroniatwo) or through a direct mobile input interface. Friend us on : facebook/sophroniatwo. Follow the collaborative character development on : facebook/sophroniatwo and on : twitter/sophroniatwo.

^ video work samples

screen recordings of generated film

sophronia calvino / screen capture 2014 09 21



sophronia circus city / screen capture 2014 06 11
sophronia city of stone / screen capture 2014 06 11
» view kathy's sophronia album on vimeo

^ when

June 14, 2014

The Sophronia Project was originally performed at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis from dusk to dawn for Northern Spark. The collaborative project offered both physical and virtual space where participants could spin their own stories of Sophronia.

August 23, 2014

Sophronia traveled to the Free Range Film Festival Barn in Wrenshall Minnesota

September 11, 2014

Sophronia flowed across the walls of the old train depot in Duluth in partnership with the Duluth Art Institute.

^ credits

Inspired by Calvino’s Invisible Cities, The Sophronia Project is a digital media installation and interactive performance by artist Joellyn Rock, multimedia composer Kathy McTavish, and netprov creator Rob Wittig.

Collaborative Team
  • multimedia projections by Joellyn Rock, Kathy McTavish, additional video by Lizzy Siemers, Lane Ellis
  • soundscape by Kathy McTavish
  • electronic music by Tobin Dack
  • words by Rob Wittig, Kathleen Roberts, Sheila Packa, Katelynn Monson, Mark Marino and #sophroniatwo on twitter
  • silhouette performances by Cathy Podeszwa, Emma Harvie, Gary Kruchowski, Lizzy Siemers, Jamie Harvie, Jay Sivak, Joellyn Rock, Rob Wittig
  • set decorating by Nancy Rogness, Karin Preus, and Ann Gumpper
  • special thanks to the Motion and Media Across Disciplines Lab at University of Minnesota Duluth

The Sophronia Two project was funded by Northern Spark and the Walker Art Center. Joellyn Rock is a fiscal year 2014 recipient of a Career Development grant from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council which is funded in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Minnesota State Legislature, and The McKnight Foundation. Kathy McTavish received funding from the Jerome Foundation to create the software behind the interactive and generative film component of the exhibit and received equipment funding from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council through the arts and cultural heritage fund as appropriated by the Minnesota State Legislature with money from the Legacy Amendment vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008.