In what ways do the processes and aesthetics of new media performance engage with the idea of ‘liveness’?

ASSIGNMENT 1: ESSAY (2,500 WORDS) (50%)

Pick ONE question from the following:

  1. In what ways do the processes and aesthetics of new media performance engage with the idea of ‘liveness’?
  2. Compare and contrast the role of remediation in TWO new media performances.
  3. Focusing on new media performance practice, discuss the relationship between intermediality and interactivity.
  4. In what ways can the processes and aesthetics of audio theatre create a ‘presence effect’? Answer with reference to at least TWO pieces of audio theatre.
  5. Critically discuss the role of gaming in at least TWO mixed-reality performances.
  6. Critically discuss the educational potential of games.
  7. Critically discuss the relationship between cinema and theatre focusing on new media performance practice of your choice.

 

IMPORTANT FOR ALL QUESTIONS:

In each case your response should focus in detail on the work of AT LEAST ONE practitioner, performer or company working in the broad genre of New Media Performance, unless stated otherwise and draw upon appropriate theoretical frameworks.

The Stanford Presence Project provides a wealth of alternative perspectives and case studies which may prove useful: http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/Home

Possible companies and artistsYou do not have to pick from this list: these are merely suggestions, based on the module and on the availability of documentation. Some of the artists listed here work primarily with / in new media forms, others only occasionally.

In no particular order:

  • Gob Squad: http://www.gobsquad.com/
  • Blast Theory
  • Lynn Hershman Leeson
  • Brith Gof
  • Eddie Ladd
  • The Builders Association
  • Stelarc (To get past intro: http://stelarc.org/?catID=20247)
  • Paul Sermon 
  • Steve Dixon / The Chameleons Group 
  • Robert Lepage
  • Tim Etchells
  • The Wooster Group
  • Forced Entertainment
  • imitating the dog

Some useful places to start reading

  • Auslander, Philip. Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture. London: Routledge, 1999.
  • Balme, Christopher. ‘Theatre and media’, in The Cambridge Introduction to Theatre Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008: 195-208.
  • Bolter, David and Richard Grusin. Remediation: Understanding New Media. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999.
  • Chapple, Freda and Chiel Kattenbelt (eds). Intermediality in Theatre and Performance. Rodopi: 2006.
  • Phelan, Peggy. Unmarked: The Politics of Performance. London: Routledge, 1993.