FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
SINGAPORE 15th September 2004

spell#7 presents
Desire Paths: an audio tour and CD-Rom experience of Little India

Desire Paths is a new media artwork that takes audiences through the streets of Little India physically and virtually, providing fact, fiction, unique insights and anecdotes.

To be launched on September 28, Desire Paths consists of:
an Audio Tour (audiences listen to headphones while walking around the area)
and an Interactive CD - ROM (audiences access this on their computer after the audio tour).

Desire Paths reveals the fictional lives of two narrators - a man and a woman who have been following each other around the streets of Little India. Are they trying to find each other? Or are they trying to escape? Are they in love with each other? Or are they in love with the place?

THE DESIRE PATHS AUDIO TOUR

Using a highly original format of the audio tour, this project, a first for Singapore, engages with ideas about memory, identity, and explores how personal stories are connected to history and place. Say Kaylene Tan (Life! Theatre Award Winner for Best Script 2003, Balance), co-writer and one of the voices on Desire Paths, "The audio tour has proven to be a highly successful format for other cities such as New York, Paris and London. It allows for artists to re-intepret the city through sound and original writing, and the end result, an experience that is immersive, informative and fun."

Adds co-writer and the other narrator, Ben Slater, "It's simple. Come to our office and get a Discman and you are out on the streets. Little India is the perfect place for the tour, it's an area full of vibrancy and rich sensory experiences, but it also has lots of little nooks and crannies that casual visitors don't notice - we enable people to look beyond the surface of the place."

spell#7 have collaborated with musician, Evan Tan from acclaimed local band, The Observatory to create the soundtrack. He says, "The tour combines the voices of Ben and Kaylene with sound effects, original music and most importantly, three-dimensional recordings of the streets of Little India - so when you on the tour, the pre-recorded and actual sound merge, you can really get lost in this sound-world we are creating, and its different for everyone who takes it."

spell#7 have tested the audio tour on very contrasting groups of people: from local students and arts goers to international academics during the Performance Studies International conference held in June this year.

"Art lecturers and professors from America, Mexico, Australia, UK and Europe came and did the tour," says Tan, "And the feedback was great, they were all new to the area, but weren't exactly your regular kinds of tourists - and they loved it. The locals who have done it have also really enjoyed having the area highlighted in such an unusual way. This tour really has a very wide appeal - to all kinds of audiences!"

THE DESIRE PATHS CD-ROM

The other group that has fallen in love with Desire Paths, are Singapore Tourism Board, who were immediately impressed with its high production values and originality and have supported the development of the tour and a CD-Rom that spell#7 have created for people to take away with them after they have done the tour.

"The CD-Rom is an extension of the audio tour, it takes you on an interactive journey around Little India using photography, sound, text and animation," explains Slater, "With the CD-Rom you can really explore things in more detail and create your own route."

After the launch at the end of September, spell#7 will be busy working on Mandarin and Japanese translations of the tour, which will be available from the end of the year.

"We want to make the tour as widely accessible as possible," says Tan. "And obviously we would love to do tours of other area of Singapore."

Desire Paths will be permanently available from 28th Spetember onwards

Listings Information:

The Desire Paths audio tour is an original way of exploring Little India brought to you by experimental arts group spell#7 in collaboration with acclaimed musician, Evan Tan from The Observatory.

Plunge yourself into a rich cinematic imaginary world suggested by sounds, music and voices as you traverse the streets around one of Singapore's most fascinating neighbourhoods, Little India. Come, listen to the facts, the stories, the noise, the whispers, the secrets, follow the orders, get lost, be found, check the map, have a drink, keep your eyes peeled...two narrators compete for your attention, ghosts or lovers, they have been on this route many times before, but this time something's different and they need your help.

The Desire Paths experience includes an interactive CD-Rom.

Desire Paths is designed for an audience of ONE. Groups are welcome, each person leaving at 5 minute intervals.

Available from 28 September onwards.
Time: 10am to 4.30pm on Tuesdays to Saturdays only.
Location: 65 Kerbau Road Singapore 219188 (nearest MRT: Little India)
Price: $18 per person per tour - which includes the Desire Paths CD-Rom.
Call 6392 1772 or email info@spell7.net a day in advance to book the tour.

Check out www.spell7.net/desirepaths for information and a preview.

For more information and interviews, contact Kaylene Tan at 63921772 or email kaylene@spell7.net

ABOUT spell#7

spell#7 began as an experimental theatre company in 1997. They have made 13 exciting and original devised performances, participated in the Singapore Arts Festival (1999 and 2001), worked as Resident Artists for Theatreworks (1999), initiated a landmark international co-production between Singapore and the UK (2000) and curated and produced Singapore's first ever new media arts festival The Year Of Living Digitally (2003).

At the heart of the company's work lies collaboration: between people, places, ideas and artistic forms; over the years, they have worked with a range of collaborators such as musicians, architects, animators, graphic and fashion designers to produce stylish, lyrical and thought-provoking work which has continuously addressed issues of place and identity in a contemporary age.

spell#7 is an arts group that is able to bring people with a range of skills and interests together. This and their interests in the international culture around inter-disciplinary, cutting edge art and performance, led them to curate and produce, The Year Of Living Digitally in 2003. This groundbreaking series of events included performances by acclaimed international theatre, sound and video artists as well as a commission of a local new media artwork.

The Year Of Living Digitally festival marks the next stage in the development of the company as a multi-disciplinary outfit - conceptualising, producing and curating related events and presenting original, challenging artistic works that reach out to a range of audiences.

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