Stories of identity and histories that connect countries, cultures and centuries are among the performances selected for the 080808 UpStage Festival, which takes place on 8 August 2008.

The festival features 14 live online performances by artists in 14 time zones, and will be accessible to anyone with a standard internet connection and browser. People in London, Munich, Oslo, Los Angeles and Wellington can also attend ‘real life’ access nodes.

A story of bridges unites the cities New York and Munich, while another performance brings together the every-day lives of women 100 years ago in Turkey, Canada and a Portuguese immigrant to the USA. Other performances feature a digital ego, a miniature biome based on climate-warming data from the internet, live audiovisual mash-ups, the celebration of the birthday of Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, and much more.

The artists involved range from experienced cyberformance practitioners such as The Plaintext Players and activelayers, to children: the youngest performers are six years old. In Belgrade, children attended a workshop before the festival to create their own show.

Download the full media release here.