Electronic Café International facts for kids
Electronic Café International (ECI) is a special place in Santa Monica, California. It's a café and a performance space all in one! It was started in 1988 by two artists, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz. You can find it inside the 18th Street Arts Center.
What is Electronic Café International?
ECI is known for being a place where people connect using technology. It's like a hub for "telepresence" events. Telepresence means using technology to make it feel like you are in the same room as someone, even if you are far away. Think of it like a super advanced video call where you can create art or perform together!
How ECI Started
Before ECI, Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz had an experience called Electronic Café '84. They learned that connecting people through technology for art was a powerful idea. So, they decided to create a permanent place for these kinds of events. This led to the opening of Electronic Café International in 1989.
What Happened at ECI?
For about ten years, ECI was a laboratory for new ideas in connecting people through art. Many new words and ideas came from the work done there. These included:
- Interactive dramaturgy: This means creating plays or performances where the audience or people in different places can join in and change the story.
- Metadesign environments: These were special digital spaces designed for people to create and interact together.
- Telephone opera: Imagine an opera where singers and musicians are in different places, connected by phone lines or networks.
- Teleconcert: A concert where musicians play together from different cities or countries.
- Tele-immersive: This describes feeling fully "inside" a shared virtual space with others.
- Telepresent: This means feeling like you are physically present in a distant place because of technology.
- Telepresence: The overall idea of feeling like you are somewhere else, or that someone else is with you, even when you are far apart.
Artists, critics, and thinkers used these terms to describe the amazing things happening at ECI. People from all over the world could connect and share experiences. For example, New Year's Eve or Earth Day celebrations at ECI could become global events. People in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia could join in and share their celebrations with others through the ECI network.
Many famous composers created new music specifically for these networked performances. Some of these composers included Mark Coniglio, Max Mathews, Pauline Oliveros, David Rosenboom, and Morton Subotnick. Poets, dancers, and actors also explored new ways to perform using telepresence technology at ECI.
ECI's Impact
Since Electronic Café International opened, its idea of connecting people through technology for art has spread around the world. Many other places have been inspired by ECI's original concept. It showed how technology could bring people together in new and creative ways, no matter how far apart they were.
