UpStage Version 1 was launched on 9 January 2004, at 6pm NZ time, at MediaLab South Pacific in Wellington, New Zealand and also online in UpStage. The online audience members were located in Auckland, New York, and somewhere else we haven’t identified yet, and Avatar Body Collision members Karla Ptacek (London) and Leena Saarinen (Helsinki) were there as well. Read the launch media release (pdf).

Following a presentation about cyberformance and the work that led to the idea for UpStage, Avatar Body Collision gave an improvised performance to demonstrate some of the features of the software.

This screen shot was taken by Leena during the demonstration, and shows a photographic backdrop with live webcam images of the performers from London, Helsinki and Wellington. At the top right of the screen are player tools for moving avatars, and below that is the text chat. The darker text is that spoken by the performers, with audience input in lighter text.