Multimedia is a vast subject and has been explored in many ways and with the use of unconventional stages, performances spaces, media, installations and exhibitions. The use of the body has been explored by many artists along with the exploration of visual, sound and lighting. There is a difference in mediated and live multimedia performance and how it can affect its audience. In the introduction: An Orchid in the Land of Technology by Philip Auslander he talks about the importance of live performance: “live performance is the category of cultural production most directly affected by the dominance of media it is particularly urgent to address the situation of live performance in our mediazed culture” (2002, p.,2).
I agree that the effect of the ‘live’ performance is important and therefore very applicable in our concepts for these initial stages in our research that will hopefully challenge us within a space. It was important that our experiments created an effect on not only ourselves but the audience too.
With some background research we are able to develop our ideas. Some of the research has allowed us to discover the work of artists or groups such as Marina Abramovic, Robert Wilson and The Wooster Group. I have found the work of Marina Abramovic very interesting as her live performances enable me to see the effects and the power of the liveness has on her audiences.
Within our initial research we have looked at the ’cause and effect’ of something and discovering how something small or simple creates a big effect. This applies to the effect of an object but also how it creates an effect on the person participating For example, if we were to say something bad to someone we know, we probably would not get a very nice response (the effect) or simplified, if you were to throw a stone at a window (cause), that window is most likely to smash (effect). Sometimes very simple actions can make the biggest of effects.
This concept is more interesting to us because it allows us to experiment with these ideas and see how it makes us feel and hopefully how it allows others to feel. We have been experimenting within the community and seeing how the public react when challenged. One of our tasks was to try and sit with someone and see if we could ask how they were and eventually start a conversation. Our results showed that generally the public were difficult to approach and did not want to respond to our questions ‘how are you today?’ ‘can you say something nice?’. However, we did have some positive feedback and some of the public were more inclined to participate. In another experiment one of the group members pretending to fall over in the street to see if anyone would help her up. Interestingly, the fist person who saw her decided to carry on walking but the second passer by was kind up to help her up and ask if she was ok. We wondered how that person felt after they had helped someone.
Our ideas are so far are developing from the idea of ‘community spirit’ and how people work together within a space. After many ideas, this idea seemed to be one that we all wanted to explore further.
Works cited:
Auslander, P. 2002 Liveness: Performance in a Mediatized Culture London: Routledge