When Theater Director Collaborates with Computer Engineer (original) (raw)

Emerging Affinities - Possible Futures of Performative Arts, 2019

Abstract

There was a time in the history of performative arts when artists collaborated with engineers towards heavily technological artistic works. Suffice it to refer to '9 Evenings' (1966) led by Robert Rauschenberg and Billy Klüver which resulted in the initiative called 'Experiments in Art and Technology'. Although this historical collaboration has served as a model for the use of technology in a range of performative projects, the question of methodology and work organization in such projects still remains underexplored. The project “Masque et Avatar” (called in first stage “La scène augmentée”) run by a small research group at the University of Paris 8 and funded by Labex Arts H2H laboratory contributes to the discussion about the interdisciplinary collaborations and bringing together theatre, engineering and computer sciences. For “Masque et Avatar” is based on the interaction between a live actor and a digitally generated avatar. The project puts into question not only live acting but also the exchange of experiences between a director became digital artist in the project and a computer engineer in a shared dialogue within a research group. Methodologically speaking, the starting point for the project was recherche-création paradigm based on the framework comprising hypothesis, protocol, practice and project outcomes (in this case: the definition of method and the theatrical form developed in the project). However, in the context of “Masque et Avatar” the outlined method entails a significant degree of unpredictability, which is one of the characteristics of experiment. This chapter aims to describe the specificity of activities undertaken within the frame of a typical workshop during the first stage of the project (2015-2016 and preliminary period of 2014), focusing predominantly on the experimental element which emerges from the collaboration between the director and researcher Georges Gagneré, and the computer engineer Cédéric Plessier. By analyzing different aspects of their collaborative work, the paper aims to show that the collaboration not only influences the professional competences of the collaborators but also generates a specific language which to a great extent organizes work in the project.

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