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e-Performance and Plug-ins A Mediatised Performance Conference
http://media.arts.unsw.edu.au/eperformance/" title="http://media.arts.unsw.edu.au/eperformance/" target="_blank"http://media.arts.unsw.edu.au...
01 and 02 December 2005
The School of Media, Film & Theatre, University of New South Wales, Australia
Introduction
The hybrid phenomena created by new media performance-makers traverse a range of academic disciplines and approaches from philosophical enquiry into the ontology of liveness to the very technical and logistical questions of performance in a mediatised environment under diverse conditions of actualisation.
Some performance theorists have questioned the notion of liveness by asking 'How is the liveness of the performance changed when it occurs within the spaces of technology?' Others have discussed the phenomenon of Internet use as 'performance on-line' and have used terms commonly found in new media discourses, such as 'posthuman', 'virtual bodies', 'embodiment' and 'telepresence'. Yet others draw upon Lacanian film theory in their analysis.
This international symposium will address cross- and multi-disciplinary investigations of issues around media/technology-based performance. Delegates will participate from interstate as well as overseas. Paralleling the diversity and range of artistic and theoretical approaches to media-based performance, conference contributors will present multi-modally, including live video interventions by speakers outside Australia, live performances, as well as presentations of scholarly papers and practice-led research. This event presents a unique opportunity for a wide range of media arts/performance practices to be discussed within an interdisciplinary environment.
Areas of enquiry
What terminology is appropriate to the discussion of mediatised performance? Is the traditional language of performance studies, terms such as 'dramaturgy' or 'ritual', helpful in discussing media/technology-based performance? Or are information-technology terms such as 'interface' and 'interactivity' more useful?
What are the key challenges arising in collaborations between theorists from different disciplines when discussing live performance in a mediated matrix?
What issues, for both critic and practitioner, lie at the nexus of theory and practice in digital performance?
What are the epistemological differences between a virtual performance in a virtual venue (on the Internet and/or computer) and a new media 'live' performance in a theatre?
Where exactly would a history of mediatised performance begin? What would that history cover, and what would it privilege? What is the future for mediatised performance?
Invited Speakers
Philip Auslander
Philip Auslander is a Professor in the School of Literature, Communication and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. As his publications attest, he is a key figure in the study of mediatised performance. Of particular relevance are the monograph, Liveness: Performance in a Mediatised Culture (1999) and (as editor) Performance: Critical Concepts in Literary and Cultural Studies (2003), a four-volume collection of essays. Other publications include From Acting To Performance: Essays In Modernism And Postmodernism (1997) and Presence And Resistance: Postmodernism And Cultural Politics In Contemporary American Performance (1992). His forthcoming book, Performing Glam Rock: Gender and Theatricality in Popular Music will be available from The University of Michigan Press in early 2006.
Johannes Birringer
Johannes Birringer is an independent choreographer /media artist and artistic director of AlienNation Co., a multimedia ensemble based in Houston, Texas (www.aliennationcompany.com). He has created numerous dance-theatre works, video installations, online and site-specific performances in collaboration with artists in Europe, the Americas and China. Author of several books, including Media and Performance: Along the Border (1998), and Performance on the Edge: Transformations of Culture (2000). Founder of the Interaktionslabor Göttelborn in Germany (http://interaktionslabor.de" title="http://interaktionslabor.de" target="_blank"http://interaktionslabor.de) and Principal Research Fellow in Live Art at Nottingham Trent University. He is also a founding member of AdAPT, an online community of artists experimenting with performance and telematics.
Jane R. Goodall
Jane R. Goodall is a Professor in the College of Arts, Education, and Social Sciences, University of Western Sydney. Jane's research interests include the cultural history of the performing arts, especially in their relationship to changing paradigms in science and philosophy. Her non-fiction books include 'Artaud and the Gnostic Drama' (1994) and 'Out of the Natural Order: Performance and Evolution in the Age of Darwin' (2002) which explores relations between the performing arts and the natural sciences in the Victorian era. Her most recent novel is 'The Visitor', published by Hodder Headline in 2005.
Michael Rush
Michael Rush is a museum director, curator, and author/critic. He is the author of New Media in Art (2005), Video Art (2003) and New Media in Late Twentieth-century Art (1999), all publisherd by Thames and Hudson, and has been a frequent contributor to the art pages of The New York Times, Art in America, artnet, Bookforum and other publications. He was director and chief curator of the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary Art from 2000-2004, and for several years, an award-winning experimental theater and video artist.
Stelarc
Stelarc is an Australian performance artist who has recently been awarded a New Media Arts Fellowship from the Australia Council. He is an Adjunct Professor at the School of Contemporary Art at Edith Cowan University . Acclaimed in Europe, the USA, and Japan, Stelarc's work explores and extends the concept of the body and its relationship with technology through the human-machine interface, incorporating medical imaging, prosthetics and robotics.
Conference organisers
Executive committee: Andrew Murphie, Ed Scheer
Advisory committee: John Golder, Su Goldfish, Clare Grant, Ross Harley, Moe Meyer
Conference Coordinator: Yuji Sone
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