Artist

Kenneth Doren

Kenneth Doran (1966-2012) was a Canadian multi-media artist whose art installations, videos and digital operas have been presented in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Canada and the U.S.A. His first digital musical work, “Allegro Molto Con Brio King Kong” (1999), focused on pop-culture connections to the Greek myth of Prometheus and incorporated a string quintet, three dancers, and video monitors. It was performed live to sold-out audiences. In the summer of 2000, the Alberta Biennial of Contemporary Art presented Doran's second digital opera, "Your High Imperial," for video-projected singers, brass quintet, two violins, and digitally manipulated sound. “Rule Britannia -- A Low Opera in Grand Shite Style,” which incorporated two pianos and two video monitors, investigated the political power path from domination to decline and premiered in Calgary (September 2002).

His most recent opuses (2005) restructure musical expectations: “Immortal Misbegotten” is a reworking of Ludwig van Beethoven's famous six Op. 18 String Quartets condensed into one piece, and “Pathetic Piano” breaks down Beethoven's Op. 13, Pathétique Sonata into ten new audience-interactive videos. In summer 2006 he composed the music “Imperial Wild” for the Motion Ensemble, for Sackville N.B.’s contemporary arts festival, as well as a new score for Michael Trent and Mocean Dance’s “Mappa Mundi” production in Halifax.

Artist Code: 611

Videography

Crusading

2009, 06:10 minutes, colour, English

The Curse of Rome

2008, 05:20 minutes, colour, English

Dead Bird-Man

2007, 04:32 minutes, colour, English

Us Commons

2006, 01:14 minutes, colour, English

The Will of the Nation

2002, 05:44 minutes, colour, English

Your High Imperial

2000, 17:00 minutes, colour, English

For love of all at once, take me now

2000, 10:00 minutes, colour

All Night Till Next Morning

1997, 07:00 minutes, colour, English

Raven

1995, 14:00 minutes, colour, English

Critical Writing

Abundant Harvest: The Recordings of Calgary Video Artists and...
by Karen Knights. Expanded Standard Timeline: Artists and Electronic Media in Calgary, EMMEDIA 1980 Through 2005, 2009. Calgary, Alberta: EMMEDIA, 2009.
Your High Imperial: Performance by Kenneth Doren
by Kristin Evenden. Artichoke, Spring 2001, v. 13, no. 1.
Content & Collaboration: The work of multimedia artist Kenneth...
by Kathryn Burns. Where Calgary / Gallery Guide, Fall 2000.
Seeing Crusading
by Zoe Williams. For his and his diggers: a collection of the past, May 12, 2000. Calgary: Truck, 2000.
Foreword
by Jim Ellis. For his and his diggers: a collection of the past, 2000. Calgary: Truck, 2000.
Opera for Cyborgs: Allegro molto con brio
by Jim Ellis. Canadian Theatre Review, 2000, no. 101.
A Work For the Love of All at Once: Local artist Kenneth Doren...
by Mikko Canini. The Calgary Straight, Feb. 4, 1999.
Interview With Kenneth Doren: by Matilda Sanchz on Multimedia and...
by Matilda Sanchez. Hand Held Media, Sept. 1999.
Kenneth Doren
by Zoe Williams.