A manifesto for the performative development of ubiquitous media (original) (raw)

Interactive Digital Technologies on Scene – Consequences and Perspectives on Aesthetics of Performative Spaces

Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - SHS, 2012

Since the very beginning of electronical assisted performances, like OPEN SCORE (1966) by Robert Rauschenberg, we may identify a very close relationship between digital technology and the aesthetics of the resulting artistic work. More than a simple improvement of technical aspects, e.g. image sharpness, sound quality, interaction with those images and sounds, digital technology impacts strongly on the conceptual interferences between technological and aesthetical structures such as the possible conception of the work itself and the scene design. New possible relations and correlations between the sound, the image, the perfomer and the spectator open new possibilities to consider time and space in artistic expression, and lead to a new aesthetic grammar, which we propose to define by the notion digital interactive aesthetics. Even if interactive digital technology is widely used in music, theatre, opera and visual arts, we observe approaches and experiments of new interactive aesthetics including the spectator mostly on the crossborder of installative art and performative works, often proposing a hybrid of both. We try to demonstrate that this new, and still fragile, aesthetics is possible to understand in the continuity of perfomative and participative art. Since the beginning of the 20 th century, participation and interactivity in arts and performance arts have been a big concern for artists. We can outline a strong conceptual continuity with artists' critics of new media, and specially the critics of artworks in the context of their relation(s) to the spectator. Using historical and actual examples of performances and installations using interactive digital technology, we investigate different forms of relations between performativity, time, space and the spectator in the context of contemporary digital interactive aesthetics.

Digital Performance: The Use of New Media Technologies in the Performing Arts

This research project analyses the relationship between performing arts and new media technologies. The project explores this interchange through the lens of a mobile application protocol which, we submit, could be employed to augment drama performances through an interactive approach. The research problem rests on the question of how modern technology has shaped the perception of performing arts in the contemporary techno-culture. The research is supported by expert interviews, all of which have bolstered my main finding that technology acts as an extension of the outer-world, as well as society. Thus, the overarching contribution of this research posits that performing arts should acknowledge this finding in order to reflect shifts within the techno-culture.

A place to play - Experimentation and Interactions Between Technology and Performance.(2006)

The Potentials of Spaces : International Scenography and Performance for the 21st Century, 2006

This chapter explores issues associated with the use of technology in performance. Why is the use of technology seen by many as a threat to the liveness of the performance event? Does the use of technology necessarily distract the audience and detract from the art? Can there be a seamless integration within the performance event? What are the implications for designing for performance in and for, an increasingly technologically oriented world? Drawing on the work of key practitioners (including Robert Wilson, Josef Svoboda, and Robert Lepage), I aim to investigate the links between the use of technology and the creation of scenographic statements on stage. Whilst concentrating primarily on the convergence of digital and projection technologies, the article will advocate new ways of working if such technology is to be integrated successfully into performance work. An account of an exploratory project involving dance, digital media and projection is provided as part of an argument that attempts to counter suggestions that performance and technology, art and science are fundamentally incompatible.

Interaction Design for Live Performance

The role of interactive technology in live performance has increased substantially in recent years. Practices and experiences of existing forms of live performance have been transformed and new genres of technology-mediated live performance have emerged in response to novel technological opportunities. Consequently, designing for live performance is set to become an increasingly important concern for interaction design researchers and practitioners. However, designing interactive technology for live performance is a challenging activity, as the experiences of both performers and their audiences are shaped and influenced by a number of delicate and interconnected issues, which relate to different forms and individual practices of live performance in varied and often conflicting ways. The research presented in this thesis explores how interaction designers might be better supported in engaging with this intricate and multifaceted design space. This is achieved using a practice-led methodology, which involves the researcher’s participation in both the investigation of, and design response to, issues of live performance as they are embodied in the lived and felt experiences of individual live performers’ practices during three interaction design case studies. This research contributes to the field of interaction design for live performance in three core areas. Understandings of the relationships between key issues of live performance and individual performers’ lived and felt experiences are developed, approaches to support interaction designers in engaging individual live performers’ lived and felt experiences in design are proposed and innovative interfaces and interaction techniques for live performance are designed. It is anticipated that these research outcomes will prove directly applicable or inspiring to the practices of interaction designers wishing to address live performance and will contribute to the ongoing academic discourse around the experience of, and design for, live performance.

Designing for performative tangible interaction

International Journal of Arts and …, 2008

We propose that designing tangibles for public interaction requires an understanding of both functional and non-functional aspects informed by Live Art theories. In this paper, we outline design requirements for performative tangible interaction, propose a framework for assessing performative interaction and demonstrate its use through four case studies of the iterative redesign of a highly portable, tangible exertion interface. By reflecting on our experience of designing for performative interaction we develop guidelines for developing multi-participant Digital Live Art.

Performative uses of space in mixed media environments

Spaces, Spatiality and Technology, 2005

Moving computing and interfaces from the virtuality of the screen into the physical environment of space and artefacts not only enables people to interact in an embodied and performative way, it also provides the interfaces with a spatial dimension. As a result, computing becomes embedded in people's physical and social world, opening up possibilities to actively stage their own interaction through creating configurations of interactive artefacts, media and space.

Expanding the Design Space for Technology-Mediated Theatre Experiences

Designing Interactive Systems Conference 2021, 2021

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The Impact of Digital Media on Contemporary Performance

This thesis investigates artworks born at the convergence of digital media and contemporary performance, and the ways in which technology impacts the field of performance. The term digital media refers to technology that produces digitised (as opposed to analogue) content such as text, audio, video, graphics and metadata. Contemporary performance refers to artworks that combine different artistic traditions—experimental theatre and dance, video art, visual art, music composition and performance art—in a single performance event. The convergence of these two fields has produced a significant body of technological works of art that challenge and reconfigure traditional conventions in contemporary performance. This thesis examines the impact of digital media on the ways performance is created, received and experienced, and the extent to which media open up new possibilities for creative expression and may generate new art forms. I mapped the field by defining three large categories that mark the heterogeneous landscape of technologically enhanced performances today, namely multimedia theatre, telematic performance and pervasive performance. Methodologically, I combined hermeneutic methods of interpretation and reflection with academic forms of practical inquiry, combining textual analysis of relevant works from each of the three categories—such as Ghost Road (Murgia and Pauwels 2012), make-shift (Jamieson and Crutchlow 2010) and Rider Spoke (Blast Theory 2007)—with the practical development and analysis of a pervasive performance experiment titled Chain Reaction (Pérez 2009 and 2011). Theoretically, the project is interdisciplinary, bringing together performance theory, digital media studies, experimental game scholarship and experiential art documentation. In discussing the ways in which digital media impact contemporary performance, I identify a number of traditional conventions in the field of theatre and performance that are currently being challenged. These are in the areas of audience participation, use of space, actor role, rehearsal and staging, and performance documentation. Central arguments in the thesis are, on the one hand, that researchers, critics and practitioners must look beyond the visionary expressions of aesthetic potential in order to grasp the real state of technologically enhanced art forms. On the on the other hand, it is only by considering both, the horizon-pushing high-tech along with the purpose-orientated low-tech, that a more grounded understanding of the present impact of developing technology on art culture can and should be reached.

Designing performer training: digital encounters with things and people

Theatre, Dance and Performance Training, 2019

London, in which he is investigating new forms and applications for embodied and enactive prototyping environments. He has been collaborating with live performers-theatre practitioners and musicians-for over ten years as a designer, documenter and video artist.