Alexis Macnab

Contemporary performance is exploring and expanding audience interaction, immersion, and agency. At the same time, “mixed reality” technology is working to increase access and ubiquity of fictionally generated “worlds.” As these two practices merge, the audience/participants are asked to fuse Self with Character, creating a new and hybrid role. But is it really that new? Classically, we are taught that performance evolved from ritual and ceremony, which is at least partially defined by the necessary participation of all involved. Is our return to experiential engagement with live performance part of the latest curve in the wide spiral of cultural evolution? In performance, what do we gain, or lose, in the transformation from witness to participant? When Audience becomes Character how does their relationship to the art form, and art object, change?

In this embodied conversation, we will highlight some of the companies and performance works which grapple with the boundaries between audience and performer, and invite the witness into a performance fiction. We will also blur the boundaries of a formal “talk” by moving together, layering idea-sharing with physical exploration, and creating an inquisitive and exploratory space. Discussion will draw from contemporary performances by 600 Highwaymen (U.S.), ZU-UK (Brazil/Great Brittan), and Ontroerend Goed (Belgium), among others. This interactive conversation will include a review of images/media, ensemble improvisation, and discussion prompts intended to illuminate the experience, insights and wisdom of the group. Come to move together, share ideas, and be inspired to collaborate and innovate as our performance form evolves.

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Organized by IUGTE in collaboration with "ArtUniverse" and New International Performing Arts Institute