Michael Valeur

Interactive Narrative: the impact of interaction on drama
Module 1

Curriculum Vitae

Michael Valeur was born on July 6th 1961 in Copenhagen.
1979-90: During the eighties he was connected to the Danish punk scene. A considerable amount of time was dedicated to work with the musician Jesper Siberg. Furthermore he played the leading part in the film „Totem“ and gained some additional experience with drama and theatre collaborating with the Avenue Theatre, a rather conventional theatre, as well as the more avant-gardistic group of Dr. Dante.
He furthermore participated in a series of performances at „Charlottenborg“, an esteemed museum of modern art, played in a variety of bands, wrote for the Danish Public Service Radio and collaborated with the Bohemia Nostra in Prague.
1991-99: He continued his literary activities, i.e. with the novel “Jessica, Lena and Martha”, but also ventured into the field of multimedia. In collaboration with the company „Deadline Media“, he released “The Angel” and “Black out”. The last title received the „Aarets Thor“ (The Thor of the year is the yearly award of Danish multimedia). Apart from serious fiction for adults he also wrote for a lighter genre of multimedia: children's titles. He created the universe of “Uncle Bellini” which holds four big titles and a best selling novel.
2000-03: Michael Valeur continued his occupation with computer fictions in different ways. Most importantly with the web fiction “Bagsaedestrisser” (Backseat Cop) made in collaboration with the Danish Public Service Radio. It's an attempt to combine radio-theatre and multimedia in the same project and it was given an award at the Prix Europe festival for radio and Internet in Berlin in 2001. More recently he has been working together with the artist Eva Koch on an interactive installation at the Museum of Modern Art in Copenhagen. At the moment, he is working on a theatre and installation project in collaboration with Hotel Pro Forma - a Danish performance theatre situated in Copenhagen.
Furthermore, He has accomplished a considerable advising and lecturing activity within organisations like “DR” (the Danish broadcasting cooperation) and “SVT” (the Swedish broadcasting cooperation), “The Danish Film Institute”, “La Fermis” at the French Film Institute in Paris, “The Academy of Converging Media” in Berlin and “Universidad Lusofones de Humanidades e Technologias” in Lisbon. Right now he is holding a longer occupation on “The Academy of Dramaturgy” in Stockholm as well as he is teaching at ITC - the IT University in Denmark.

References

Interactive fiction 

- “Black Out”, (Black out)Deadline Media - 1997 
- “The angel” ( Englen ), Deadline Media - 1999 
- “The Mad Magician” (Spoegelse med forkoelelse), Savannah 1997 
- “The Doggone Dognapping” (Skeletter med kasketter), Savannah 1998 
- “Bellinis bikini” (Bellinis Bikini), Savannah 1999 
- “The Cosmic Cheese Conspiracy” (Ostekrigen paa maelkevejen), Savannah 2000 
- “Backseat Cop” (Bagsaedestrisser) The Danish Public Service Radio and Betalab (Danish Public Service Television's Internet section) - 2000

smaller contributions 

- “Uncle Bellinis Secrets” (Onkel Bellinis hemmeligheder) Savannah Kids 2000 
- “Uncle Bellini in Holidonia” (Slapafnien) Savannah Kids - 2001 
- “The Missing Rabbits” (De forsvundne kaniner) Savannah Kids - 2001 
- ” Fox in the Henhouse” (Rævestreger i hønsegården) Savannah Kids - 2001 
- ” Don´t upset the Apple-cart” (Stridens æble) Savannah Kids - 2001

non digital fiction - novels connected to the productions

- “Blackout” (Black out) Deadline Media - 1997 
- “Bellinis Big Bad Basement” (Spion i troldmandens kælder) - 2000

literature on interactivity and interactive fiction

- ”Blackout - experience with interactive dramaturgy”
(Blackout - erfaringer med interaktiv dramaturgi) 1998 / Roskilde Universitet. 
- Youth - Education and Culture - Chapter 2: ”The New Media and The New Youth”
(Ungdom - uddannelse og kultur) 1999 / Danmarks Erhvervspaedagogiske Laereruddannelse. 
- “Interactive Media”
(Interaktive medier) 2000 / Forlaget Malling Beck 
- ”Different Platforms” 2003 / COFAC (contribution to an anthology for the university in Lisbon)

articles 

- ”Interactive fiction”
(Interaktiv Fiktion) 1998 / Dansklaererforeningen 
- ”The interactive fiction”
(Den interaktive fiktion) 1998 / Det Danske Filminstitut 
- ”The story who read the reader”
(Fortaellingen der laeste sin laeser) 1998 / Danmarks Biblioteksforening 
- ”Fear and vision - the history of computer games”
(Angst og vision - computerspillenes historie) 1999/Blender 
- ”Song for the soft seats in the dark - a little comment about interactivity and film”
(Sang til de bløde sæder i mørket - en lille kommentar om interaktivitet og film ) 2002 / Det Danske Filminstitut
- ”Nurse your darlings - about the multlineare storytelling”
(Nurse your darlings - om den mangesidige fortaelling) 2003 / Kesera #7

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