Re: [-empyre-] cultural, organizational and technological performance

[steve guynup <exposedfield@yahoo.com>]

> You had previously commented on your interest to
> capture behavior unawares so that people didn?t
> change their actions in an attempt to manipulate the
> interactive aspect, as when you discuss capturing
> the performance of everyday life. This raises the
> question of awareness or as Helen notes,
> consciousness. What it also brings up that we
> haven't specifically addressed yet is the idea of
> framing reception or context, an aspect that has to
> be considered in the definition of performance. 

It strikes me that this touches on issues found in
work dicussed early on in this list. Adam Nash's
Memory Plains Returning was web3D multiuser
performance, unlike the general notion of realistic
space and faux humaniod avatars. His space was
completely void and the audience avatars where
transluscent grey balls. The performers were huge
musically charged architectual forms. 

The visual disconnect between digital avatar and human
representation gave the show a unique mechanistic
feeling. As an audience memember, I had no metric to
single out the humanity. The division between computer
and performer seemed erased. 

The other grey audience avatars, projections of
humanity were visually tiny in scope of the show,
their actions unstructured, their role as co
performers gained weight most often through the
dimension of proximity. 

As for myself alone, but not alone, in a digital
performance space finding myself and recognizing
myself in an everday performance - a "Ringo moment" 

(I'm unsure of the academic research on Ringo, but
fans of the Beatles and the film Hard Days Night ought
to be able to offer opinions...)


regards
Steve G






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