The date or meeting square is something than in practice was something rather easy to execute, taking a think of the sort of conversation that Ben will improv with his participant and the impact on them. Similarly, the 'normal' square is rather self-serving, not in that it doesn't need working on in its composition but in that we knew what it was going to form and the basic shape it was going to take. We also already had a practical trial for devising the language square at the work-in-progress meeting with Jonny & Nick, taking things to work on practically and improvements to make. The cyber and labelling squares were becoming harder to form. We decided to spend this week focusing on our ideas for forming the Cyber square....
We had hoped to include a more performative, physical theatre element to the piece, especially as a way of exploring the disembodiment of the self in the cyber and representingt the different aspects of the identity of the face. We even tried going outside onto a field on a beautiful sunny day, doing a proper warm up and throwing around some moves and ideas to try and get the ideas going....This photographic evidence doesn't show that to our best ability but trust me, we were knackered afterwards... Unfortuately, as sunny as it was and as much as we tried out new things, the ideas just weren't there! Perhaps it was because a couple of weeks previous we'd all seen a student production of Belleville Rendevous, that Jessie was in, that included some brilliant, well developed physical theatre and we were all too self-concious of it not being as good. Maybe it just wasn't meant to be.Instead, we decided to try another idea out...
As I've tried to document below, the practice was to try out the concept of exploring how we communicate with another over the internet and the different elements which are lost in doing so. As we didn't have the technological resources immeadiatly to hand we used domestic props to demonstrate. So to explain:
- The task is for participant A, in this case Kwaku (though we ran it through a couple of times with each of us), is to have a conversation with participant B, Ben.
- A is allowed to communicate normally, in that they can use their own voice and speak directly, what they said is heard by B. A, however, cannot see B and are unaware with who they are talking to.
- However, B is not allowed to use their voice at all, instead they must communicate through the use of their body.
- They must also have their body communication mediated through participant C, Jack (who would possibly be one of us, not sure yet), who instead of vocalising what he thinks Ben is saying, instead has to write it onto the flip pad (which represents typed words on a screen, C wouldn't be visible to A in the actual circumstances.)
- A is allowed to communicate normally, in that they can use their own voice and speak directly, what they said is heard by B. A, however, cannot see B and are unaware with who they are talking to.
- However, B is not allowed to use their voice at all, instead they must communicate through the use of their body.
- They must also have their body communication mediated through participant C, Jack (who would possibly be one of us, not sure yet), who instead of vocalising what he thinks Ben is saying, instead has to write it onto the flip pad (which represents typed words on a screen, C wouldn't be visible to A in the actual circumstances.)
- Therefore, while B responds directly to what he hears, A can only respond to the words he see's and B must accept whatever C communicates, regardless of whether they are correct or even truthful in how they interepret it.
Results
- Became rather sinister and unnerving when, either out of curiousity or for sheer fun, the boys decided to take up different identities, making a strange observation of the real unknown dangers of taking to strangers on the internet.
- On one occasion, Ben decided to be a young boy and Jack, so not to get in a stereotypical 'youth' conversation was a 30 year old, as he thought this would still be young enough to not be creepy. And yet this age difference was still enough to make any conversation they did have seem sinister and inappropriate, as we knew or had it drilled into our heads of the horror stories of recent years that this should be inappropriate. This is something that neither Ben nor Jack set out to achieve and yet this was the result.
- Is this something we're going for?
- How easy will it to control or even to encourage the participants to become apart of?
- When we tried to be more normal and ourselves, it soon became rather a tame and predictable experience. Is this something that could affectively last 15 minutes if there wasn't naturally engaging participants?
- Took a couple of attemps for us to warm up to it, was easier because we were already friends
- Interesting use of seperation/divisions, how it affects the space and what it means to be in what space. Performance or not, privacy, open space, freedom...
Something to consider developing or reconsidering....
Links
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cq6eEHq4olk
