The whole damn concept of it makes the little punky thrift store shopping teenage girl in me swoon:
http://www.elsewhereelsewhere.org/residencies.html
Related Lena video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OALUIFrs41o
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Monday 14 January 2008
Research Proposal - January 2008
Activating the Body of a Tech Performer
Embodiment theory is used across the performance spectrum to develop performance personae and devise content. Applied to performers whose work involves the use of technology (e.g. live camera, VJ, electronic sound artists,) some of these ideas could be a starting point to develop active “tech performers” as opposed to the more traditional, passive “tech operators.” The first embodiment concept of interest is that the individual’s mind and body are inseparable since they are both part of a single entity. Ruth Zaporah’s Action Theater and Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s Pocha Nostra are two techniques that draw on this notion to develop a performer’s “presence” outside the traditional notions of representational theatre. The second concept is that the individual is part of a larger system. This “larger system” includes other performers, audience, performance space, and community, as described in accounts of the Happenings during the 1960s and 1970s and advocated by artists such as Richard Schechner (Govan, 2007.)
Guillermo Gomez-Peña has a pragmatic description of the distinction between perfomance art and traditional acting in his essay "In Defense of Performance, XXII Time and Space” (Gomez-Peña, 2005.) Performers must develop a sense of “presence” as opposed to “representation”; “being here” in the space as opposed to “acting” (ibid, p.39.) In performance art, the audience is up next to you, interacting with you. "Every detail and every small gesture makes a statement." (ibid, p.126.) Gomez-Peña’s strategy for developing a performance “persona” is deeply rooted in embodiment theory. The development of a persona draws on a performer’s experience and personal contradictions and is then “activated” through the exploration of actions that "contain the flesh and bones" of the emerging persona (ibid, p.127) and begins to communicate the hallmarks of the performance persona. Finally, the body is transformed into “performance mode” starting with transforming the face and expression, down through to the feet until the persona inhabits every pore of the performer.
Ruth Zaporah’s Action Theater offers performance strategies such as “the improvisation of presence” (1995) and “embodied content” (2007) which stem from her background as a dancer and an improvisor. To gain full performance presence, the body is tuned through a series of exercises that break down the performer’s actions to the most elemental states*. An accutely detailed awareness of and fascination with both physical and psychic states at all times is key to developing a performance because all content will arise from this presence. As Zaporah puts it, these “sensory details are the signs and arrows that point in the direction of your next move.” (Zaporah, 1995. p.109) Through this process, an active performer emerges ready to trust that every experience that arises from the body will create a stimulating performance.
Gomez-Peña and Zaporah both believe that all performances start in the body** and also stress the importance of positioning the individual performer in the larger system to draw content from and feedback into. They join the wider chorus of artists who believe that involving the larger system in performance is inevitable because performers simply are part of a wider context (Zaporah, 1995.) A notable voice in this chorus is Richard Schechner who comments that “in performance art the ‘distance’ between the really real (socially, personally, with the audience, with the performers) is much less than in drama theater...” (Gomez-Peña, 2005, p.38) Contemplating this distance can provide performers with rich ground to develop performances from and also affirms the need for acute, detailed awareness of the performer’s body that both Zaporah and Gomez-Peña advocate for.
I plan to use the aspects of embodiment discussed in this proposal as a lens through which to reconcile a couple of issues that interest me as I strive to become an active video-based “tech performer.” The first is to consider my physical presence in the performance, the relationship between my body, the camera and other performers, and ultimately what this communicates to the audience. This challenge arose in both Shahar Dor’s Improvideo and Kelli Dipple’s Intimacy and Recorded Presence workshops that I participated in this fall. The second issue is a personal challenge to return to a basic, no-frills definition of technology that I can apply to my video work–technology as a tool to allow the body to do something it cannot do on its own. Referencing work of body-based performers such as Gomez-Peña and Zaporah will continue to be useful as I explore these issues in my practice. I need to locate performers who I believe have successfully achieved the goal of active “tech performer” as a next step in my research.
I also see a need to elaborate on the relationship between individual and technology in my research. In his foreword to Performa: New Visual Art Performance, Hal Foster claims that the performance art of the 1960s and 1970s was a reaction to the increased mediation of art. He goes on to state that 30 years on, performance’s relationship to media has now been reconciled (Goldberg, 2007.) However, after attending the conference Intimacy across visceral and digital performance (2007), it is clear that there are still a large number of performers and scholars who have not reconciled or actively reject technological mediation of live performance. At the conference, embodiment theory was used on both sides to simultaneously argue that the presence of technology dilutes the impact of the live act and that it heightens emotional communication (e.g. camera close-ups) and can be an extension of Self (e.g. online avatars (Sermon, 2007.)) There is an opportunity for me to enter into this debate through my proposed research. In keeping with embodiment theory, I see possibilities of the “individual and technology” relationship working on many different levels. At the moment, I consider this relationship as part of the exercise of the individual to integrate mind and body into a moment of presence during the performance. Technology might also be used as a catalyst to bridge the explorations of the individual performer to the different levels of the larger system.
Footnotes:
* This description is based on my personal experience of the technique as a participant in a 10-week workshop conducted by Action Theater practioner Kate Hilder during the fall of 2007 in London.
** My system of thought tends to be both emotionally and corporeally based. In fact, the performance always begins in my skin and muscles, projects itself onto the social sphere, and returns via my psyche, back to my body and into my bloodstream, only to be refracted back into the social world via documentation. Whatever thoughts I can't embody, I tend to distrust. Whatever ideas I can't feel way deep inside, I rend to disregard. (Gomez-Peña, 2005, pp.30-31)
... [we] tend to act with our attention ... in the function, intention, or language of an action. We deny the body its role as collaborator....In the perfect moment ... there is only congruent action–the body, the expression of the face and eyes, the state of mind, the voice, and narrative are all inseparable, spontaneously arising moment by moment from the same source of imaginative awareness. (Zaporah, 2007. p.12)
Embodiment theory is used across the performance spectrum to develop performance personae and devise content. Applied to performers whose work involves the use of technology (e.g. live camera, VJ, electronic sound artists,) some of these ideas could be a starting point to develop active “tech performers” as opposed to the more traditional, passive “tech operators.” The first embodiment concept of interest is that the individual’s mind and body are inseparable since they are both part of a single entity. Ruth Zaporah’s Action Theater and Guillermo Gomez-Peña’s Pocha Nostra are two techniques that draw on this notion to develop a performer’s “presence” outside the traditional notions of representational theatre. The second concept is that the individual is part of a larger system. This “larger system” includes other performers, audience, performance space, and community, as described in accounts of the Happenings during the 1960s and 1970s and advocated by artists such as Richard Schechner (Govan, 2007.)
Guillermo Gomez-Peña has a pragmatic description of the distinction between perfomance art and traditional acting in his essay "In Defense of Performance, XXII Time and Space” (Gomez-Peña, 2005.) Performers must develop a sense of “presence” as opposed to “representation”; “being here” in the space as opposed to “acting” (ibid, p.39.) In performance art, the audience is up next to you, interacting with you. "Every detail and every small gesture makes a statement." (ibid, p.126.) Gomez-Peña’s strategy for developing a performance “persona” is deeply rooted in embodiment theory. The development of a persona draws on a performer’s experience and personal contradictions and is then “activated” through the exploration of actions that "contain the flesh and bones" of the emerging persona (ibid, p.127) and begins to communicate the hallmarks of the performance persona. Finally, the body is transformed into “performance mode” starting with transforming the face and expression, down through to the feet until the persona inhabits every pore of the performer.
Ruth Zaporah’s Action Theater offers performance strategies such as “the improvisation of presence” (1995) and “embodied content” (2007) which stem from her background as a dancer and an improvisor. To gain full performance presence, the body is tuned through a series of exercises that break down the performer’s actions to the most elemental states*. An accutely detailed awareness of and fascination with both physical and psychic states at all times is key to developing a performance because all content will arise from this presence. As Zaporah puts it, these “sensory details are the signs and arrows that point in the direction of your next move.” (Zaporah, 1995. p.109) Through this process, an active performer emerges ready to trust that every experience that arises from the body will create a stimulating performance.
Gomez-Peña and Zaporah both believe that all performances start in the body** and also stress the importance of positioning the individual performer in the larger system to draw content from and feedback into. They join the wider chorus of artists who believe that involving the larger system in performance is inevitable because performers simply are part of a wider context (Zaporah, 1995.) A notable voice in this chorus is Richard Schechner who comments that “in performance art the ‘distance’ between the really real (socially, personally, with the audience, with the performers) is much less than in drama theater...” (Gomez-Peña, 2005, p.38) Contemplating this distance can provide performers with rich ground to develop performances from and also affirms the need for acute, detailed awareness of the performer’s body that both Zaporah and Gomez-Peña advocate for.
I plan to use the aspects of embodiment discussed in this proposal as a lens through which to reconcile a couple of issues that interest me as I strive to become an active video-based “tech performer.” The first is to consider my physical presence in the performance, the relationship between my body, the camera and other performers, and ultimately what this communicates to the audience. This challenge arose in both Shahar Dor’s Improvideo and Kelli Dipple’s Intimacy and Recorded Presence workshops that I participated in this fall. The second issue is a personal challenge to return to a basic, no-frills definition of technology that I can apply to my video work–technology as a tool to allow the body to do something it cannot do on its own. Referencing work of body-based performers such as Gomez-Peña and Zaporah will continue to be useful as I explore these issues in my practice. I need to locate performers who I believe have successfully achieved the goal of active “tech performer” as a next step in my research.
I also see a need to elaborate on the relationship between individual and technology in my research. In his foreword to Performa: New Visual Art Performance, Hal Foster claims that the performance art of the 1960s and 1970s was a reaction to the increased mediation of art. He goes on to state that 30 years on, performance’s relationship to media has now been reconciled (Goldberg, 2007.) However, after attending the conference Intimacy across visceral and digital performance (2007), it is clear that there are still a large number of performers and scholars who have not reconciled or actively reject technological mediation of live performance. At the conference, embodiment theory was used on both sides to simultaneously argue that the presence of technology dilutes the impact of the live act and that it heightens emotional communication (e.g. camera close-ups) and can be an extension of Self (e.g. online avatars (Sermon, 2007.)) There is an opportunity for me to enter into this debate through my proposed research. In keeping with embodiment theory, I see possibilities of the “individual and technology” relationship working on many different levels. At the moment, I consider this relationship as part of the exercise of the individual to integrate mind and body into a moment of presence during the performance. Technology might also be used as a catalyst to bridge the explorations of the individual performer to the different levels of the larger system.
Footnotes:
* This description is based on my personal experience of the technique as a participant in a 10-week workshop conducted by Action Theater practioner Kate Hilder during the fall of 2007 in London.
** My system of thought tends to be both emotionally and corporeally based. In fact, the performance always begins in my skin and muscles, projects itself onto the social sphere, and returns via my psyche, back to my body and into my bloodstream, only to be refracted back into the social world via documentation. Whatever thoughts I can't embody, I tend to distrust. Whatever ideas I can't feel way deep inside, I rend to disregard. (Gomez-Peña, 2005, pp.30-31)
... [we] tend to act with our attention ... in the function, intention, or language of an action. We deny the body its role as collaborator....In the perfect moment ... there is only congruent action–the body, the expression of the face and eyes, the state of mind, the voice, and narrative are all inseparable, spontaneously arising moment by moment from the same source of imaginative awareness. (Zaporah, 2007. p.12)
Research Proposal - Bibliography
In case some references are useful to others for their research. I'm still looking for more good references (both theorists and artists) that deal with embodiment and technology.
Please comment if you can point me towards some.
Annotated Bibliography
Books
Brine, D. and L. Keidan eds., 2007. Programme Notes - Case studies for locating experimental theatre. London: Live Art Development Agency.
Case studies and interviews with key experimental theatre companies and artists (e.g. Tim Etchells and Forced Entertainment, Stationhouse Opera, Kira O'Reilly, Duckie) currently working in the UK. Most case studies argue for the importance of open dialogue and partnership between mainstream venues and smaller, experimental companies.
Goldberg, R., ed., 2007. Performa: New Visual Art Performance. New York: Performa Productions.
Compilation of documentation and interviews with artists who participated in Performa 05 in New York City. Foreword and Introduction offered an excellent argument for the resurgence in performance in the past decade and the challenges that arise when trying to preserve these primarily ephemeral moments in time for future generations.
Gómez-Peña, G., 2005. Ethno-Techno: writings on performance, activism, and pedagogy. London: Routledge.
A collection of essays which firmly situate Gomez-Pena's work within a political, artistic and cultural framework with a transparent account of his group's workshop and performance devising models. I was particularly interested in his description of "being" as opposed to "performing," development of personas, and how to pitch a live work when you are intertwining yourself with your audience. Also excellent resource to see how an artist explains his work to the rest of the world.
Govan, E., H. Nicholson, and K. Normington, 2007. Making a Performance: Devising histories and contemporary practices. London: Routledge.
Similar content to Lehmann, but in much plainer English and updated with examples from the last 8 years. Pragmatic account of history of devising and useful categorization of current practices that will continue to be useful when devising content and forms for new work.
Lehmann, H-T., 2006. Post-Dramatic Theatre. Translated from German by Karen Jürs-Munby. London: Routledge. (originally published in 1999).
Historical context for current performance trends in Europe and the United States. "Panorama of Postdramatic Theatre" section will be a useful resource for elements to consider when devising a new piece.
Zaporah, R., 1995. Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Detailed account of Zaporah's 21 day Action Theater workshop process with clear explanations about what each exercise is attempting to draw out of participants. I've used this as a key reference when developing the progression of exercises for the workshops I've led this past fall. Also instrumental in bringing my attention to the infinite resources for expression within the body.
Zaporah, R., 2007. Embodied Content in Action Theater Manual: A Practice Book for the Experienced Improvisor. Santa Fe, NM: ZAP Performance Projects. pp. 10-12.
Concise description of 3 levels of awareness that occur in your body when developing content in an improvisation setting. Of particular interest is her notion that we should always start content development from a place fully rooted in the body and be cautious of moving too quickly into attaching meaning or a narrative structure to that first "level".
Conference Papers & Seminars
Jones, A., 2007. Screen Eroticism: Contrasting Intimacies in the work of Carolee Schneeman and Piplotti Rist. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
A comparative study of works by feminist artists in which Jones looks at how the chosen medium for projection impacts the way that the erotic content and intimacy is communicated. Most interesting points regarding my interests: Schneeman turned film into a skin collaging cutting and baking it creating a deeper level of engagement with both the material and the subject. Rist's piece gains intimacy for viewer because it's on a TV which is a familiar object in our everyday lives.
Jones, S. 2007. De-second naturing: performance's intimate work in a world of terror. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Simon Jones warned against taking performance to one of two extremes - objectification into a grand narrative or subjectivism and infantilism. A person isn't adequately expressed in the purely social or intimate. Performance can (and should in his opinion) act "as a gerund" in between these states.
Ponton, A. 2007. Eye to I. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Ponton contends that new technologies are giving people (and performers) a new arena which extends how our notions of "Self" can be shaped. Also of interest were statements that presence and absence are no longer discreet states, considering the gaze as a form of touch, and asked whether we can consider any work of art to be immediate and unmediated?
Sermon, P. 2007. (Dis)Embodiment Seminar as part of Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Sermon presented his work of networked telematic video projects that connected people in different locations through composite video images. His current work revolves around a gallery he has created in Second Life. In all his work, he is interested in Lacan’s definition of Self and how that is translated into the digital sphere.
Workshops
Action Theater (workshop leader: Kate Hilder). September - December 2007, movingartsbase, London, UK.
Technique which tunes your attention into what is happening in your body at any given moment and allows you to become fascinated in that moment as the foundation for an improvised performance. Exercises developed to increase awareness of the body's modes of expression through movement, sound and speech and experimentation with motion vs. stillness, fast vs. slow, noise vs. silence, etc. Embodiment on the most essential level - moving your awareness deep into your body integrating what is happening in both mind and body in reaction to your surroundings.
Intimacy and Recorded Presence (workshop leader: Kelli Dipple). At Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
This workshop revisited ideas originally raised in Shahar Dor's Improvideo workshop. Dipple also raised the argument that you can achieve a greater level of intimacy with a camera than you can in a face-to-face encounter "You can't do this because I'm a person, but you can do this because I'm a machine." Dipple also had useful advice to overcome anxiety about documentation of live performances never capturing the 'real' epxerience: think of it as "versioning" as opposed to documentation. Different versions of the performance that the public can interact with at different moments in time.
Improvideo (workshop leaders: Shahar Dor and Amit Shalev). August 2007, Chisenhale Dance Space, London, UK.
Workshop conducted by Israeli dancer and videographer based on improvisation exercises designed to establish a greater understanding of the relationship between the performer and camera performer. Introduced me to the idea of keeping your body "active" as a performer when you are operating the camera. Exposed us to interacting with the “larger system” by conducting several exercises out in the public sphere, including a day-long project in SoHo and Trafalgar Square.
Performances
Complicite, A Disappearing Number. Barbican Centre, London September, 2007.
Interesting use of video shifting between roles as character and set (foreground/background)
Filter, Water. Hammersmith Lyric, London. October, 2007.
Brechtian format which involved sound engineer and stage manager on stage for the whole performance. Actors were also involved in generating sounds and lighting effects in real time during the performance and I was interested to see how they shifted seamlessly between character and technician throughout.
Phillip Glass, Music in 12 Parts. Barbican Centre, London. November, 2007.
I was impressed by the effect of a technically challenging durational piece on the performers. It seemed inevitable that the performers would lose their place or miss a note at some point during the 4 hour piece.
Grains of Sound. ICA, London. November, 2007.
Classic example of laptop-based musicians in passive tech operator mode. Performers’ bodies were completely disengaged from considering the impact that their physical presence might have on audience members. One set was an exception. They chose to perform in darkness, forcing the audience to focus solely on the sound, which is what they wanted.
Further Research
Auslander, P., 1999. Liveness - Performance in a Mediatized Culture. London: Routledge.
Checkhov, M., 1953. To The Actor- on the technique of acting. New York: Harper & Row.
Julia Bardsley recommended section on the psychological gesture as a character development strategy.
Carman, T. and M. B. N. Hansen eds., 2005. Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, A., 2006. Self-Image: Technology, Representation, and the Contemporary Subject. London: Routledge.
Reynolds, J., 2004. Merleau-Ponty and Derrida: Intertwining embodiment and alterity. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Smith, M. and Morna, J., eds., 2006. The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Please comment if you can point me towards some.
Annotated Bibliography
Books
Brine, D. and L. Keidan eds., 2007. Programme Notes - Case studies for locating experimental theatre. London: Live Art Development Agency.
Case studies and interviews with key experimental theatre companies and artists (e.g. Tim Etchells and Forced Entertainment, Stationhouse Opera, Kira O'Reilly, Duckie) currently working in the UK. Most case studies argue for the importance of open dialogue and partnership between mainstream venues and smaller, experimental companies.
Goldberg, R., ed., 2007. Performa: New Visual Art Performance. New York: Performa Productions.
Compilation of documentation and interviews with artists who participated in Performa 05 in New York City. Foreword and Introduction offered an excellent argument for the resurgence in performance in the past decade and the challenges that arise when trying to preserve these primarily ephemeral moments in time for future generations.
Gómez-Peña, G., 2005. Ethno-Techno: writings on performance, activism, and pedagogy. London: Routledge.
A collection of essays which firmly situate Gomez-Pena's work within a political, artistic and cultural framework with a transparent account of his group's workshop and performance devising models. I was particularly interested in his description of "being" as opposed to "performing," development of personas, and how to pitch a live work when you are intertwining yourself with your audience. Also excellent resource to see how an artist explains his work to the rest of the world.
Govan, E., H. Nicholson, and K. Normington, 2007. Making a Performance: Devising histories and contemporary practices. London: Routledge.
Similar content to Lehmann, but in much plainer English and updated with examples from the last 8 years. Pragmatic account of history of devising and useful categorization of current practices that will continue to be useful when devising content and forms for new work.
Lehmann, H-T., 2006. Post-Dramatic Theatre. Translated from German by Karen Jürs-Munby. London: Routledge. (originally published in 1999).
Historical context for current performance trends in Europe and the United States. "Panorama of Postdramatic Theatre" section will be a useful resource for elements to consider when devising a new piece.
Zaporah, R., 1995. Action Theater: The Improvisation of Presence. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
Detailed account of Zaporah's 21 day Action Theater workshop process with clear explanations about what each exercise is attempting to draw out of participants. I've used this as a key reference when developing the progression of exercises for the workshops I've led this past fall. Also instrumental in bringing my attention to the infinite resources for expression within the body.
Zaporah, R., 2007. Embodied Content in Action Theater Manual: A Practice Book for the Experienced Improvisor. Santa Fe, NM: ZAP Performance Projects. pp. 10-12.
Concise description of 3 levels of awareness that occur in your body when developing content in an improvisation setting. Of particular interest is her notion that we should always start content development from a place fully rooted in the body and be cautious of moving too quickly into attaching meaning or a narrative structure to that first "level".
Conference Papers & Seminars
Jones, A., 2007. Screen Eroticism: Contrasting Intimacies in the work of Carolee Schneeman and Piplotti Rist. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
A comparative study of works by feminist artists in which Jones looks at how the chosen medium for projection impacts the way that the erotic content and intimacy is communicated. Most interesting points regarding my interests: Schneeman turned film into a skin collaging cutting and baking it creating a deeper level of engagement with both the material and the subject. Rist's piece gains intimacy for viewer because it's on a TV which is a familiar object in our everyday lives.
Jones, S. 2007. De-second naturing: performance's intimate work in a world of terror. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Simon Jones warned against taking performance to one of two extremes - objectification into a grand narrative or subjectivism and infantilism. A person isn't adequately expressed in the purely social or intimate. Performance can (and should in his opinion) act "as a gerund" in between these states.
Ponton, A. 2007. Eye to I. Paper presented at Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Ponton contends that new technologies are giving people (and performers) a new arena which extends how our notions of "Self" can be shaped. Also of interest were statements that presence and absence are no longer discreet states, considering the gaze as a form of touch, and asked whether we can consider any work of art to be immediate and unmediated?
Sermon, P. 2007. (Dis)Embodiment Seminar as part of Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
Sermon presented his work of networked telematic video projects that connected people in different locations through composite video images. His current work revolves around a gallery he has created in Second Life. In all his work, he is interested in Lacan’s definition of Self and how that is translated into the digital sphere.
Workshops
Action Theater (workshop leader: Kate Hilder). September - December 2007, movingartsbase, London, UK.
Technique which tunes your attention into what is happening in your body at any given moment and allows you to become fascinated in that moment as the foundation for an improvised performance. Exercises developed to increase awareness of the body's modes of expression through movement, sound and speech and experimentation with motion vs. stillness, fast vs. slow, noise vs. silence, etc. Embodiment on the most essential level - moving your awareness deep into your body integrating what is happening in both mind and body in reaction to your surroundings.
Intimacy and Recorded Presence (workshop leader: Kelli Dipple). At Intimacy across visceral and digital performance, December 2007, University of London - Goldsmiths, London, UK.
This workshop revisited ideas originally raised in Shahar Dor's Improvideo workshop. Dipple also raised the argument that you can achieve a greater level of intimacy with a camera than you can in a face-to-face encounter "You can't do this because I'm a person, but you can do this because I'm a machine." Dipple also had useful advice to overcome anxiety about documentation of live performances never capturing the 'real' epxerience: think of it as "versioning" as opposed to documentation. Different versions of the performance that the public can interact with at different moments in time.
Improvideo (workshop leaders: Shahar Dor and Amit Shalev). August 2007, Chisenhale Dance Space, London, UK.
Workshop conducted by Israeli dancer and videographer based on improvisation exercises designed to establish a greater understanding of the relationship between the performer and camera performer. Introduced me to the idea of keeping your body "active" as a performer when you are operating the camera. Exposed us to interacting with the “larger system” by conducting several exercises out in the public sphere, including a day-long project in SoHo and Trafalgar Square.
Performances
Complicite, A Disappearing Number. Barbican Centre, London September, 2007.
Interesting use of video shifting between roles as character and set (foreground/background)
Filter, Water. Hammersmith Lyric, London. October, 2007.
Brechtian format which involved sound engineer and stage manager on stage for the whole performance. Actors were also involved in generating sounds and lighting effects in real time during the performance and I was interested to see how they shifted seamlessly between character and technician throughout.
Phillip Glass, Music in 12 Parts. Barbican Centre, London. November, 2007.
I was impressed by the effect of a technically challenging durational piece on the performers. It seemed inevitable that the performers would lose their place or miss a note at some point during the 4 hour piece.
Grains of Sound. ICA, London. November, 2007.
Classic example of laptop-based musicians in passive tech operator mode. Performers’ bodies were completely disengaged from considering the impact that their physical presence might have on audience members. One set was an exception. They chose to perform in darkness, forcing the audience to focus solely on the sound, which is what they wanted.
Further Research
Auslander, P., 1999. Liveness - Performance in a Mediatized Culture. London: Routledge.
Checkhov, M., 1953. To The Actor- on the technique of acting. New York: Harper & Row.
Julia Bardsley recommended section on the psychological gesture as a character development strategy.
Carman, T. and M. B. N. Hansen eds., 2005. Cambridge Companion to Merleau-Ponty. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jones, A., 2006. Self-Image: Technology, Representation, and the Contemporary Subject. London: Routledge.
Reynolds, J., 2004. Merleau-Ponty and Derrida: Intertwining embodiment and alterity. Athens, OH: Ohio University Press.
Smith, M. and Morna, J., eds., 2006. The Prosthetic Impulse: From a Posthuman Present to a Biocultural Future. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
From the archives: First Research Synopsis
Current Research Synopsis 2007
MA Theatre – Visual Language of Performance
Primary research – The use of improvisation in interdisciplinary performance
I am conducting a critical analysis of the use of improvisation techniques in historical and contemporary interdisciplinary performances. I am interested in both how improvisation has been used to facilitate collaborations amongst artists and how it is used to devise final performances.
I am researching techniques of avant garde groups of the 1950s and 60s such as the Black Mountain College (Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg) and Fluxus event scores. This time period has had a strong influence on my collaborations to date and I would like to examine how these early performances have influenced contemporary performance groups. Contemporary groups that I would like to study further include Complicite, The Wooster Group, Forced Entertainment, and Filter.
Questions
- How are contemporary companies incorporating different types of media into their performances?
- How are they using improvisation techniques to devise a final performance?
- How have the early avant garde techniques influenced contemporary performance?
- Are there aspects of early performances not widely adopted today that could benefit contemporary practice?
- What techniques have groups such as the Wooster Group or Complicite preserved from their early work in their current practice?
- What criticism do the artists have of their own work and the direction it has taken (ie the impact of commercialization on what they feel they can produce?)
- How does my work further the tradition of improvisation in interdisciplinary performance?
Workshops
To complement my theoretical work, I am conducting workshops open to artists from all backgrounds to try out techniques that come out of my research. This term, I am working with simple exercises drawn from different creative disciplines designed to increase the vocabulary available to express their ideas and explore their discipline in a perfomative context. Moving forward, I plan to examine how the use of varying levels of pre-determined parameters or event scores affect interactions between performers and how different types of constraints can be used to create a dynamic final performance.
Secondary research – Solo artists with interdisciplinary practices
I would like to test out some of the theories I develop from my primary research as a solo performer. Since my primary creative discipline is performance-based video, I am revisiting the work of artists such as Bill Viola, Vito Acconci, and Nam June Paik. I’m also interested in researching Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk, and would like to locate some contemporary London-based solo artists who do interdisciplinary work.
Questions
- What are solo performers asking/demanding of/communicating to their audiences with the choice to present themselves alone on stage?
- What are ways of creating connections with an audience where they feel included in the performance? Through non-verbal communication? Through technology? Are there particular shapes, forms, or perspectives?
- Should issues of intimacy actually be the primary theme of my research?
Outcome
My longer term interest is to form my own interdisciplinary performance troupe–not only as an opportunity to develop my own work, but also to create a support structure and opportunity for other artists to work in this area.
Questions
- What are the implications of my research for my continued practice? As a solo artist? As a workshop leader? As artistic director of my own company?
MA Theatre – Visual Language of Performance
Primary research – The use of improvisation in interdisciplinary performance
I am conducting a critical analysis of the use of improvisation techniques in historical and contemporary interdisciplinary performances. I am interested in both how improvisation has been used to facilitate collaborations amongst artists and how it is used to devise final performances.
I am researching techniques of avant garde groups of the 1950s and 60s such as the Black Mountain College (Cage, Cunningham, Rauschenberg) and Fluxus event scores. This time period has had a strong influence on my collaborations to date and I would like to examine how these early performances have influenced contemporary performance groups. Contemporary groups that I would like to study further include Complicite, The Wooster Group, Forced Entertainment, and Filter.
Questions
- How are contemporary companies incorporating different types of media into their performances?
- How are they using improvisation techniques to devise a final performance?
- How have the early avant garde techniques influenced contemporary performance?
- Are there aspects of early performances not widely adopted today that could benefit contemporary practice?
- What techniques have groups such as the Wooster Group or Complicite preserved from their early work in their current practice?
- What criticism do the artists have of their own work and the direction it has taken (ie the impact of commercialization on what they feel they can produce?)
- How does my work further the tradition of improvisation in interdisciplinary performance?
Workshops
To complement my theoretical work, I am conducting workshops open to artists from all backgrounds to try out techniques that come out of my research. This term, I am working with simple exercises drawn from different creative disciplines designed to increase the vocabulary available to express their ideas and explore their discipline in a perfomative context. Moving forward, I plan to examine how the use of varying levels of pre-determined parameters or event scores affect interactions between performers and how different types of constraints can be used to create a dynamic final performance.
Secondary research – Solo artists with interdisciplinary practices
I would like to test out some of the theories I develop from my primary research as a solo performer. Since my primary creative discipline is performance-based video, I am revisiting the work of artists such as Bill Viola, Vito Acconci, and Nam June Paik. I’m also interested in researching Laurie Anderson and Meredith Monk, and would like to locate some contemporary London-based solo artists who do interdisciplinary work.
Questions
- What are solo performers asking/demanding of/communicating to their audiences with the choice to present themselves alone on stage?
- What are ways of creating connections with an audience where they feel included in the performance? Through non-verbal communication? Through technology? Are there particular shapes, forms, or perspectives?
- Should issues of intimacy actually be the primary theme of my research?
Outcome
My longer term interest is to form my own interdisciplinary performance troupe–not only as an opportunity to develop my own work, but also to create a support structure and opportunity for other artists to work in this area.
Questions
- What are the implications of my research for my continued practice? As a solo artist? As a workshop leader? As artistic director of my own company?
From the archives: Learning Agreement
Before posting my Research Proposal, I thought I'd post the Learning Agreement and outline of research interests that J.M. asked us to submit to him before our first critical studies tutorial. Might as well let it all hang out, eh? I post these as is, without comment from the over-active peanut gallery in my head.
Aims (outline the purpose, scope, visions and ambition of your plan of work)
Research
1. Conduct a brief historical survey of avant garde performance
2. Select and begin analysis of 3-4 contemporary performance groups who work across disciplines, and who use improvisation to devise performances and/or incorporate improvisation into the final piece
3. Review the practices of a range of solo artists/performers who incorporate multiple disciplines into their work.
Practice
1. Explore an interdisciplinary solo performance practice
2. Begin to conduct improvisation-based workshops with artists from different backgrounds
2 Objectives (The expected objectives leading towards the learning outcomes of the unit)
Research
1. The historical survey will allow me to more clearly explain the lineage that my work is part of. I also hope to learn more specifics about techniques used throughout avant garde performance to give me a solid framework upon which to build new exercises that will translate well into a contemporary interdisciplinary performance.
2. Case studies of contemporary groups will give me some models currently in practice to help situate myself within contemporary practice, either aligning with or reacting against trends that come up. Focussing on a few groups instead of doing an overview survey will also give me insight into how companies present their work to the outside world and how it is critiqued.
3. Looking at solo performers will give me inspiration for exploring a solo performance practice that draws on my training in several disciplines, and ideas for engaging the audience when there is only one person to focus on.
Practice
1. Solo practice will give me another perspective on how the techniques I am developing for the workshops translate when applied to another performance mode. I will also be able to determine whether I would like to develop a solo performance practice in its own right or if it is simply a useful tool for a deeper understanding of exercises that I will be sharing with others.
2. The weekly workshops will give me experience in running workshops, explore modes of creative expression available in a performance context, test out exercises that come out of my research to see if they translate well to a group of artists from mixed backgrounds and/or are good at fostering a strong, collaborative group dynamic. At the end of this term, I would like to have a stronger sense of a good progression of exercises to use in workshops so that I can focus on devising a final performance with a group of artists who are serious about participating in this performance.
3 The Plan of Work describing the principal stages and timescale of the work
1) Historical survey 3-4 weeks
i. Determine initial bibliography and start reading (in progress)
ii. Locate any visual reference that could be useful in development of practice (ongoing)
iii. Develop outline highlighting key themes, moments, movements, artists that are particularly relevant to my practice (Dec)
2) Solo performance 6 weeks
i. Determine list of solo artists to explore further (in progress)
ii. Sketch ideas that spring from research, workshops & lectures (ongoing)
iii. Weekly dedicated practice time to try out ideas (ongoing)
iv. Outline themes and issues that have arisen from practice and research (Dec/Jan)
3) Group Workshops 7 weeks
i. Evaluate techniques from ongoing research (historical, contemporary & solo practice)
ii. Develop workshop plans for weekly workshops with an informal group of artists (weekly)
iii. Describe workshop plan and evaluate each workshop after its been conducted (weekly)
iv. Analyze themes in critique that has arisen from workshops at end of term (Dec/Jan)
4) Selection of contemporary practitioners for case studies 8 weeks
i. Review contemporary companies on VLP website (complete)
ii. Attend performances in London (ongoing)
iii. Select companies for deeper review (Dec)
• Access to information on group, documentation of performances
Aims (outline the purpose, scope, visions and ambition of your plan of work)
Research
1. Conduct a brief historical survey of avant garde performance
2. Select and begin analysis of 3-4 contemporary performance groups who work across disciplines, and who use improvisation to devise performances and/or incorporate improvisation into the final piece
3. Review the practices of a range of solo artists/performers who incorporate multiple disciplines into their work.
Practice
1. Explore an interdisciplinary solo performance practice
2. Begin to conduct improvisation-based workshops with artists from different backgrounds
2 Objectives (The expected objectives leading towards the learning outcomes of the unit)
Research
1. The historical survey will allow me to more clearly explain the lineage that my work is part of. I also hope to learn more specifics about techniques used throughout avant garde performance to give me a solid framework upon which to build new exercises that will translate well into a contemporary interdisciplinary performance.
2. Case studies of contemporary groups will give me some models currently in practice to help situate myself within contemporary practice, either aligning with or reacting against trends that come up. Focussing on a few groups instead of doing an overview survey will also give me insight into how companies present their work to the outside world and how it is critiqued.
3. Looking at solo performers will give me inspiration for exploring a solo performance practice that draws on my training in several disciplines, and ideas for engaging the audience when there is only one person to focus on.
Practice
1. Solo practice will give me another perspective on how the techniques I am developing for the workshops translate when applied to another performance mode. I will also be able to determine whether I would like to develop a solo performance practice in its own right or if it is simply a useful tool for a deeper understanding of exercises that I will be sharing with others.
2. The weekly workshops will give me experience in running workshops, explore modes of creative expression available in a performance context, test out exercises that come out of my research to see if they translate well to a group of artists from mixed backgrounds and/or are good at fostering a strong, collaborative group dynamic. At the end of this term, I would like to have a stronger sense of a good progression of exercises to use in workshops so that I can focus on devising a final performance with a group of artists who are serious about participating in this performance.
3 The Plan of Work describing the principal stages and timescale of the work
1) Historical survey 3-4 weeks
i. Determine initial bibliography and start reading (in progress)
ii. Locate any visual reference that could be useful in development of practice (ongoing)
iii. Develop outline highlighting key themes, moments, movements, artists that are particularly relevant to my practice (Dec)
2) Solo performance 6 weeks
i. Determine list of solo artists to explore further (in progress)
ii. Sketch ideas that spring from research, workshops & lectures (ongoing)
iii. Weekly dedicated practice time to try out ideas (ongoing)
iv. Outline themes and issues that have arisen from practice and research (Dec/Jan)
3) Group Workshops 7 weeks
i. Evaluate techniques from ongoing research (historical, contemporary & solo practice)
ii. Develop workshop plans for weekly workshops with an informal group of artists (weekly)
iii. Describe workshop plan and evaluate each workshop after its been conducted (weekly)
iv. Analyze themes in critique that has arisen from workshops at end of term (Dec/Jan)
4) Selection of contemporary practitioners for case studies 8 weeks
i. Review contemporary companies on VLP website (complete)
ii. Attend performances in London (ongoing)
iii. Select companies for deeper review (Dec)
• Access to information on group, documentation of performances
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