Mapping Intermediality in Performance (Amsterdam University Press - MediaMatters)

305 Pages·2011·3.66 MB·English

by  Sarah Bay-Cheng

This volume examines afresh the impact upon M
acting and performance of digital technologies. Mapping
a m
It is concerned with how digital culture com­ p ed
p ia
bines the traditional ‘liveness’ of theatre with m
m media interfaces and internet protocols. The ing Intermediality in atter
e time and space of the ‘here and now’ are both s
d I
n
challenged and adapted, just as barriers
i
t
a
between theatre­makers and the ‘experiencers’ e
Performance
r
m of events are broken down. Today many of us m
are everyday players performing the intercon­
a e
t nectedness of digital culture and a key aim d
t i
e of the book is to unpack the multiple inter­ a
r l
relations within the landscape of contem­ i
s t
porary performance. Access to a range of y

i
‘instances’ (The Builders Association, Castel­ n
lucci, Castorf, Gob Squad, Lepage, Second Life P
and VJing) is through ‘portals’ which afford e
r
perspectives on the main characteristics of f
o
theatre and performance in the digital age. r
m
a
‘Bold, incisive and engaging, Mapping Intermediality n
c
in Performance goes further than any book to date
e
in tracing the nuanced interrelationships and meta­
morphic interplays between digital media and a e
n d
the performance arts. It provides the reader with d it
y e
authoritative overviews of key ideas and perform­ l d
a b
v y
ances, opens up fascinating new trajectories of en s
a
thought, and fuses theory and practice with explosive d r
er a
ecrfifteiccta.l Aag menadgnasifi ince tnhte a ficehlide vfoerm menant yth yaeta irss l tikoe clyo mtoe s.e’t & r h ba
o y
Steve Dixon, Professor of Digital Performance, bin -ch
Brunel University, West London n en
e g
l
so , c
h
n
i
e
‘Reading this book is like surfing the web: it not only l k
a edited by
maps intermediality in performance ­ it exemplifies it.’ t
t
e
ISBN978-90-896-4255-4 Philip Auslander, Professor, School of Literature, n sarah bay-cheng
b
Communication and Culture, Georgia e
l chiel kattenbelt
t
Institute of Technology ,
andy lavender
robin nelson
9 789089 642554 amsterdam university press amsterdam university press
AUP MM 04.Mapping rug16.2mm v05.indd 1 09-07-10 09:22
Mapping Intermediality inPerformance

Mapping
Intermediality in
Performance
Edited by
Sarah Bay-Cheng, Chiel Kattenbelt,
Andy Lavender, and Robin Nelson
AmsterdamUniversityPress
MediaMattersisanewseriespublishedbyAmsterdamUniversityPressoncurrent
debates about media technology and practices. International scholars critically
analyzeandtheorizethematerialityandperformativity,aswellasspatialpractices
ofscreenmediaincontributionsthatengagewithtoday’sdigitalmediaculture.
Formoreinformationabouttheseries,pleasevisit:www.aup.nl
Acknowledgements
The editors wish to acknowledge financial and other support from: the Digital
Humanities Initiative at Buffalo and the University at Buffalo (SUNY); Central
SchoolofSpeech&Drama,UniversityofLondon;ManchesterMetropolitanUni-
versityandUtrechtUniversity.Weshouldlikealsotothankthosephotographers
who have freely given permission to reproduce their images. We should like to
thank Jeroen Sondervan, the series editor, for commissioning this volume and
ChantalNicolaesandtheproductionteamatAUPforrealisingthepublicationso
efficiently. We also thank Emmy Kattenbelt for her work on constructing the in-
dex and Miguel Escobar for designing the diagrams of the nodes. Last but not
leastwethankthecontributorsfortheirwillingnesstoengageinmanydialogues
andtoadjusttheirwritingstothepurposesofthebookinwhat,forus,hasbeena
gratifying,becausegenuinelyinteractive,process.
Coverillustration:ParticipantinanimmersiveperformancebyCREW,©Ericjoris
Coverdesign:SuzandeBeijer,Weesp
Layout:JAPES,Amsterdam
ISBN 9789089642554
e-ISBN 978904851 3147
NUR 670
© S. Bay-Cheng, C. Kattenbelt, A. Lavender, R. Nelson / Amsterdam University
Press,Amsterdam,2010
All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above,
no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval
system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both
thecopyrightownerandtheauthorofthebook.
Contents
HowtoApproachThisBook 9
Introduction:ProspectiveMappingandNetworkofTerms 13
ProspectiveMapping 13
RobinNelson
NetworkofTerms 24
SarahBay-Cheng
Portal:PerformativityandCorporealLiteracy 27
IntermedialityinPerformanceandasaModeofPerformativity 29
ChielKattenbelt
CorporealLiteracy:NewModesofEmbodiedInteractioninDigital
Culture 38
MaaikeBleeker
Node:ModesofExperience 45
Experiencer(RobinNelson) 45
Embodiment(KurtVanhoutte) 45
Intimacy(BruceBarton) 46
Presence(RussellFewster) 46
Immersion(KurtVanhoutteandNeleWynants) 47
Instances 49
Instance:PerforminganAvatar:SecondLifeOnstage 49
KaisuKoski
Instance:IntermedialityinVJing:TwoVJSetsbyGeraldvanderKaap
(aliasVJ00-Kaap) 56
MarinaTurco
Instance:TheLostBabylon(AdelaideFringeFestival2006) 63
RussellFewster
Instance:TheWorkofCREWwithEricJoris 69
KurtVanhoutteandNeleWynants
Instance:RiminiProtokoll,Mnemopark(2005) 75
KaraMcKechnie
Portal:TimeandSpace 83
Temporality 85
SarahBay-Cheng
Spatiality 91
BirgitWiens
5
Node:Dimensions 97
Displacement(LiesbethGrootNibbelink) 97
Deterritorialisation(LiesbethGrootNibbelink) 97
Glocalisation(BirgitWiens) 98
Telematic(SarahBay-Cheng) 99
Instances 101
Instance:ChristopherKondek,DeadCatBounce(2005) 101
BirgitWiens
Instance:LaSocìetasRaffaelloSanzio,Purgatory(2008) 109
KatiaArfara
Instance:GranularSynthesis,Modell5(2001) 115
EdwardScheer
Portal:DigitalCultureandPosthumanism 123
DigitalCulture 125
AndyLavender
Posthumanism 135
RalfRemshardt
Node:Actuality-Virtuality 141
Materiality(MichaelDarroch) 141
Transparency(MeikeWagner) 141
Virtuality(SarahBay-Cheng) 142
Instances 143
Instance:ThespianPlay:SynchronousDifferences 143
FalkHübner
Instance:TheBuildersAssociation,SuperVision(2005) 149
RosieKlich
Instance:TheFragmentedStageofVirtuoso(workingtitle) 156
PeterPetralia
Instance:RichardForeman,TheGodsArePoundingMyHead!
(AkaLumberjackMessiah)(2005),DeepTranceBehaviorinPotatoland(2008) 163
SarahBay-Cheng
Portal:Networking 171
Networking 173
MeikeWagnerandWolf-DieterErnst
Node:Inter-relations 185
Connectivity(Wolf-DieterErnst) 185
FeedbackLoop(MichaelDarroch) 185
Interactivity(SarahBay-Cheng) 186
Hybridity(IzabellaPluta) 186
Intertextuality(SarahBay-Cheng) 187
6 mappingintermedialityinperformance
Separation(ChielKattenbelt) 188
Recursion(JohanCallens) 188
Transcoding(PeterM.Boenisch) 189
Instances 191
Instance:RobertLepageandExMachina,TheAndersenProject(2005) 191
IzabellaPluta
Instance:FrankCastorfandtheBerlinVolksbühne,TheHumiliatedand
Insulted(2001) 198
PeterM.Boenisch
Instance:GobSquad,RoomService(2003) 204
Wolf-DieterErnst
Instance:Anne-MarieBoisvert,Identitédénudée:regardsouslemaquillage
deSherman;ManonOligny,Pouliches:autourdel'oeuvredeCindySherman;
ThomasIsraël,LookingforCindy(2006) 210
JohanCallens
Portal:PedagogicPraxis 217
PresenceandPerception:AnalysingIntermedialityinPerformance 218
LiesbethGrootNibbelinkandSigridMerx
TheIntermedialPerformerPrepares 230
HenkHavens
Retrospection:ThePre-andProto-digital 237
Instance:GivemeyourblessingforIgotoaforeignland 239
TimHopkins
EarlyIntermediality:ArchaeologicalGlimpses 247
KlemensGruber
Notes 259
CitedWorks 267
Contributors 283
Index 293
contents 7

How to Approach This Book
ThisvolumeintheMediaMattersseriesaimsprovisionallytomapterritorywhichis
under development, the territory of intermediality in performance in digital cul-
ture, which, in Deleuzian terms, is being de- and re-territorialised (1987). The
projecthas developed organicallyas anetworkof situated concerns and engage-
mentsandthusismoreanexerciseinmapping, ajourneychartinganetworkof
selected ideas and practices, than an attempt at exhaustive coverage, let alone
fixity. This approach presented the editors with three immediate problems: how
topresentanetworkmapofinterconnectednodesinbookform,howtoindicate
possible lines of flight connecting terms within and beyond the scope of the
book, and how to clarify concepts withoutisolating them inappropriately from a
dynamicprocessofinterrelatednessanddeferral.
Positionality ina network mappingexerciseisproblematic for,asCastells has
remarked,“anetworkhasnocenter,justnodes”(2004,3).Theideaofanetwork,
withoutfixedbearingsandentailingrecursiveloops,whichmightbeenteredand
exited at any point marks our sense that each aspect of digital culture is best
understood in relation to another, whichleads to yet anotherand so on. In Cas-
tells’s view,“nodes may be of varying relevance for the network. … However, all
nodesofanetworkarenecessaryforthenetwork’sperformance....Thenetwork
istheunit,notthenode”(2004,3).Thestructureofthebookisthusconceivedas
aglobalnetworkofmultiplyinter-connectedideasandpractices,andreadersare
invited toapproach thevolumeaccordingly.Toassistaccessfollowingtheintro-
duction,prospectivemapping,andanetworkofterms,wehavemarkedfivepor-
tals, gateways into the network which afford a range of situated perspectives.
These are: performativity and corporeal literacy; time and space; digital culture
and posthumanism; networking; and pedagogic praxis. Finally, a retrospection
affordsareviewofthebookthroughthelensofthehistoricalavant-garde.Read-
ersmightenterthebookthroughanyoftheportalswhichofferaccesstonodes:
modesofexperience,dimensions,actuality-virtuality,orinterrelations.Eachnode
isillustratedbyaclusteroftermsandrelatedinstances.InNetworkCulture,Terra-
novasuggeststhat“tothinkofsomethinglikea‘networkculture’atall…istotry
to think simultaneously the singular and the multiple, the common and the un-
ique” (2004, 1). The structure of the book accordingly invites a dialogic engage-
ment with key concepts and key questions with specific reference to theatre and
performancepracticesaftertheintermedialturn("prospectivemapping).
Asystemofarrowspointsthereadertolinksacrossthenetwork.Thenetwork
map(")affords astructuralmappingofterms,and sub-sectionsextractedfrom
9