[-empyre-] Response to Digest, Vol 31, Issue 4

[Barbara Campbell <barbara@1001.net.au>]

On 05/06/2007, at 4:00 AM, empyre-request@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au wrote:

> Welcome Barbara and thanks for your introduction,
>
> It would be great if some of your 1001 nights cast writers came forward
> in this discussion :-)
>
> Could you tell me how you get the writers contributions?
Through various channels. I started with a broad call-out to writers 
groups and networked online communities, as many as I could find at the 
time and also my "little black book". Since then, as word has spread, 
unsolicited contributions will come through the site and contributing 
writers will pass the word along. However, one can never assume 
exponential growth on the web. Paths are quickly covered over.
> Do they all
> come via the web site or do you have some people who write for this
> project regularly/irregularly.
I have many regulars and irregulars. For the first 600 or so nights, 
the regulars numbered about 60 or 70 which meant that some people were 
writing every couple of months. Since April, that number has had a 
growth spurt since I left Australia for the northern hemisphere summer 
and different time zones. And amongst the regulars, there are some who 
write episodically. In other words the project is cultivating some 
novellas along the way.
> As yet, I haven't had the opportunity to see the live performance - 
> only
> view the archives, so I will make sure I am online for the one today.
> Just to confirm the time difference - the Oz east coast is 10 hours
> ahead of Madrid - does that mean that the next performance will be at
> 7.41am 6 June Australian EST time.
No, actually the time difference is currently 8 hours (it changes 
according to who is on or off daylight savings). I'm sorry but while 
I'm in Europe, performances will be difficult to catch if you're in the 
Australasian time zones. I don't expect anyone to wake for a 5.41am 
performance in the dead of winter.
> Have empyreans seen this work and would like to comment?
>
> Also, I am interested in the notion of surrendering individual identity
> as a performer in this work and the connection of 'virtual' space and
> performance.
I have found the separation between my space and the audience's space 
very challenging. The previous 20 years of my performance practice had 
assumed a shared time and space between performer and audience 
(although separation was often sought and signified by other means). 
Because I insist that the audience has to be with me in live, real time 
to experience the performance, "shared time" comes to stand in for 
"shared space". I often get questions or comments (even criticisms) 
that I haven't made the performances available on the site as podcasts. 
Market forces have led us all to believe that this is a given. But for 
conceptual reasons, I actively reject it for this project. (As we all 
know, just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD.)
> There are threads of this linking through all of the guests
> work in one way or another, particularly in relation to the 'framing' 
> of
> identity through the screen.
OK, let's get down to tin tacks. What are we talking about when we 
speak of identity here? Because I think other words are playing at the 
margins of this, eg, authenticity and inauthenticity.

http://1001.net.au
Skype contact: bcperformance