10.1 Digital performance
7 min read•august 21, 2024
blends technology with live art, challenging traditional notions of presence and interaction. It emerged from early experiments like Nam June Paik's TV Buddha and Myron Krueger's Videoplace, which explored new forms of artistic expression enabled by digital tools.
Key concepts in digital performance include , , and the use of technologies like and . These elements expand the possibilities for creativity and audience engagement, often blurring the lines between performer and spectator.
Origins of digital performance
- Digital performance emerges at the intersection of technology and live art, blending computational systems with traditional performance practices
- Explores new forms of artistic expression enabled by digital tools, challenging conventional notions of presence, interaction, and embodiment in performance art
Early experiments in technology
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IMG_1930 | Nam June Paik robot, Family of Robot: Baby. Part … | Flickr View original
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Nam June Paik’s legendary Electronic Superhighway View original
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“The Father of Video Art” – Nam June Paik: Intersecting Art and The Digital – Digital Media ... View original
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“The Father of Video Art” – Nam June Paik: Intersecting Art and The Digital – Digital Media ... View original
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- Nam June Paik's TV Buddha (1974) juxtaposes ancient sculpture with closed-circuit television, critiquing media consumption
- Myron Krueger's Videoplace (1970s) pioneers responsive environments, allowing participants to interact with computer-generated imagery
- The Pepsi Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka integrates real-time video processing and immersive dome projections
- Experiments with telematic art in the 1980s connect performers across distances using satellite technology
Influence of computer art
- Algorithmic art by pioneers like Vera Molnár introduces generative processes into visual compositions
- John Cage's HPSCHD (1969) incorporates computer-generated music alongside traditional instruments
- Interactive installations by Jeffrey Shaw, such as Legible City (1989), allow viewers to navigate virtual environments
- Lynn Hershman Leeson's Lorna (1979-1984) explores non-linear narratives through interactive laserdisc technology
Key concepts in digital performance
- Digital performance integrates computational systems into live art, expanding the possibilities for interaction and expression
- Challenges traditional notions of liveness, presence, and embodiment in performance contexts
Interactivity vs passive viewing
- Interactivity empowers audiences to influence or co-create the performance through digital interfaces
- Passive viewing maintains a traditional separation between performer and audience, even in digital contexts
- Degrees of interactivity range from simple button presses to complex AI-driven responsive systems
- Interactive performances often require new models of authorship and creativity that incorporate audience input
Virtual vs physical presence
- Virtual presence allows performers and audiences to participate remotely through digital platforms
- Physical presence maintains the traditional co-location of bodies in a shared space
- blend virtual and physical elements, creating layered experiences of presence
- Telepresence technologies enable performers to project their actions into remote physical spaces
Technologies in digital performance
- Digital performance leverages a wide array of technologies to create innovative artistic experiences
- Continuous technological advancements drive new possibilities for creative expression and audience engagement
Motion capture systems
- Optical systems use multiple cameras to track reflective markers on a performer's body
- Inertial systems employ wearable sensors to measure acceleration and orientation
- Magnetic systems detect changes in magnetic fields generated by sensors on the performer
- Applications include real-time character animation, gesture-controlled environments, and movement analysis
Projection mapping techniques
- Transforms irregular surfaces into dynamic display canvases through precise calibration
- Employs specialized software to warp and mask projected images to fit specific geometries
- Enables the creation of illusory 3D effects on 2D surfaces, altering spatial perceptions
- Applications range from architectural projections to interactive stage designs
Virtual reality platforms
- Head-mounted displays (HMDs) immerse users in computer-generated 3D environments
- Room-scale VR systems allow for physical movement within a defined space
- Haptic feedback devices enhance immersion through touch sensations
- Social VR platforms enable multi-user interactions in shared virtual spaces
Forms of digital performance
- Digital performance encompasses a diverse range of artistic practices that integrate technology
- Continually evolves as new technologies emerge and artists explore their creative potential
Telematic performances
- Connect geographically dispersed performers and audiences through networked technologies
- Pauline Oliveros's Deep Listening Institute explores telematic music performances
- The Gertrude Stein Repertory Theatre's experiments with distributed acting ensembles
- Challenges include managing latency and synchronization across different time zones
Augmented reality installations
- Overlay digital content onto the physical world, often through mobile devices or specialized glasses
- Blast Theory's Can You See Me Now? (2001) blends online and street gameplay
- Janet Cardiff's audio walks create site-specific narrative experiences
- AR installations often explore themes of hidden histories, alternate realities, and spatial storytelling
AI-driven interactive experiences
- Utilize artificial intelligence algorithms to create responsive and evolving performances
- Artificial Nature by Haru Ji and Graham Wakefield creates self-organizing ecosystems
- Annie Dorsen's algorithmic theater pieces generate dialogue in real-time
- Raise questions about authorship, creativity, and the nature of performance in the age of AI
Digital performance spaces
- Digital technologies transform traditional performance venues and create entirely new spaces for artistic expression
- Blur boundaries between physical and virtual realms, challenging conventional notions of site-specificity
Online platforms for performance
- Streaming services like Twitch and YouTube Live enable real-time broadcasts to global audiences
- Virtual worlds such as Second Life host avatar-based performances and installations
- Custom-built web platforms offer unique interfaces for interactive digital experiences
- Online performances often incorporate chat features, allowing for audience interaction and feedback
Hybrid physical-digital venues
- Integrate digital technologies into traditional theater and gallery spaces
- The New World Symphony's WALLCAST concerts project live performances onto exterior walls
- 4D Art/Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon create immersive environments blending holographics with live performers
- Sensor-equipped spaces allow for responsive lighting, sound, and projection based on audience movement
Audience engagement in digital performance
- Digital technologies offer new ways for audiences to interact with and shape performances
- Challenge traditional roles of spectator and performer, often blurring the lines between the two
Participatory digital experiences
- Allow audiences to directly influence or co-create the performance through digital interfaces
- Blast Theory's Rider Spoke (2007) invites participants to record and listen to stories while cycling through a city
- Online collaborative drawing platforms enable real-time visual jams among dispersed participants
- Participatory experiences often explore themes of collective creativity and distributed authorship
Social media integration
- Incorporates social media platforms into the fabric of performances
- Twitter plays use audience tweets to generate dialogue or influence plot developments
- Instagram filters and AR effects create sharable, personalized performance moments
- Raises questions about privacy, data ownership, and the commodification of participation in digital art
Digital performance aesthetics
- Digital technologies introduce new visual, auditory, and interactive elements to performance art
- Often embraces aesthetics of code, networks, and digital processes as artistic material
Glitch art and digital artifacts
- Deliberately incorporates or simulates errors and malfunctions in digital systems
- Rosa Menkman's performances explore the aesthetics of corrupted data and compression artifacts
- challenges notions of perfection and control in
- Often used to critique the assumed infallibility of technology or reveal hidden structures in digital systems
Data visualization in performance
- Transforms abstract data sets into visual or auditory performance elements
- Ryoji Ikeda's large-scale installations convert scientific data into immersive audiovisual experiences
- Live coding performances generate visuals and sound from real-time programming
- often explores themes of information overload, surveillance, and the hidden patterns in digital life
Critical perspectives on digital performance
- Examines the cultural, social, and philosophical implications of integrating digital technologies into performance art
- Engages with broader discourses on the impact of technology on human experience and expression
Posthumanism and digital bodies
- Explores how digital technologies extend, augment, or challenge traditional notions of the human body
- Stelarc's performances with robotic prosthetics and internet-connected body modifications
- Avatar-based performances in virtual worlds question the nature of embodiment and identity
- Raises ethical questions about the boundaries between human and machine in artistic practice
Digital divide in performance access
- Addresses issues of inequality in access to digital performance technologies and experiences
- Examines how socioeconomic factors influence participation in and creation of digital art
- Explores alternative low-tech or hybrid approaches to make digital performance more inclusive
- Questions the global reach of digital performance given disparities in internet access and digital literacy
Digital performance documentation
- Digital technologies offer new possibilities and challenges for capturing and preserving ephemeral art forms
- Raises questions about the nature of the archive in the digital age
Archiving ephemeral digital works
- Develops strategies for preserving performances that exist primarily in digital formats
- The Rhizome ArtBase preserves net art and other born-digital artworks
- Virtual reality archives attempt to capture immersive experiences for future access
- Explores the use of blockchain technology for creating verifiable records of digital performances
Challenges of preserving digital art
- Addresses issues of technological obsolescence and format migration
- Grapples with preserving interactive or generative works that change with each viewing
- Considers legal and ethical issues around copyright and ownership of digital performances
- Explores the tension between fixity and variability in digital archives
Future trends in digital performance
- Anticipates emerging technologies and practices that may shape the future of digital performance
- Considers the ethical and artistic implications of new technological developments
Emerging technologies for performers
- Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) enable direct neural control of digital systems
- Quantum computing opens possibilities for complex real-time generative performances
- Advanced haptic technologies create more immersive tactile experiences for remote audiences
- Explores the potential of 5G and edge computing for reducing latency in networked performances
Ethical considerations in digital art
- Addresses issues of data privacy and consent in participatory digital performances
- Examines the environmental impact of energy-intensive digital technologies in art
- Considers the implications of AI-generated performances on human creativity and labor
- Explores the role of digital performance in addressing social and political issues in a technologically mediated world
Key Terms to Review (26)
Ai-driven interactive experiences: AI-driven interactive experiences refer to dynamic and immersive engagements that utilize artificial intelligence to respond to user inputs in real-time, creating personalized and adaptive interactions. These experiences blend technology with performance art, allowing audiences to influence the unfolding of a piece through their actions, choices, or even emotional responses, making each experience unique. This integration of AI enhances the interactivity of digital performance, fostering deeper connections between performers and their audience.
Augmented reality installations: Augmented reality installations are interactive experiences that blend digital content with the physical environment, allowing users to engage with both real and virtual elements in real-time. These installations enhance the viewer's experience by overlaying digital images, sounds, or data onto the physical world, creating a unique fusion that transforms how art and performance are perceived. By using devices like smartphones, tablets, or specialized glasses, audiences can interact with the artwork in a dynamic way that goes beyond traditional forms of presentation.
Authenticity: Authenticity refers to the quality of being genuine, real, and true to one's self or origin. In performance art, it emphasizes the importance of the artist's original intentions, the integrity of the work, and the experience shared with the audience. This concept is crucial in understanding how performances are documented, replicated, and experienced in various contexts.
Data visualization in performance: Data visualization in performance refers to the practice of representing data in a visual context to enhance the understanding and interpretation of information during live performances. This technique allows artists and audiences to engage with data in real-time, making abstract information more tangible and accessible. By integrating visual elements into performances, creators can evoke emotional responses and provoke thought, bridging the gap between art and information.
Digital divide: The digital divide refers to the gap between individuals and communities that have access to modern information and communication technologies and those that do not. This divide can exist due to socioeconomic factors, geographic location, or educational background, impacting how people engage with digital performance and telematic art forms. Understanding this gap is crucial for ensuring equitable access to digital resources, which are increasingly integral to contemporary performance practices.
Digital media: Digital media refers to any content that is created, distributed, and consumed in a digital format, often involving the use of computers, smartphones, and the internet. This form of media encompasses various artistic expressions and documentation techniques, enabling new ways for performance art to be experienced, shared, and archived, significantly transforming traditional practices in photography, video, and live performances.
Digital performance: Digital performance refers to the integration of digital technologies into live performances, creating a unique experience that blends the physical and virtual realms. This can include elements like live-streaming, interactive installations, or the use of virtual avatars. It transforms traditional performance art by allowing artists to engage with audiences in new ways and reach broader demographics across various platforms.
Digital performance documentation: Digital performance documentation refers to the process of capturing and archiving live performances using digital media, such as video, audio, and photography. This form of documentation allows artists to preserve their work for future audiences and serves as a record of the performance's context, intentions, and impact. The rise of digital technology has transformed how performances are documented, enabling broader accessibility and innovative ways to present art.
Emerging technologies for performers: Emerging technologies for performers refer to the innovative tools and digital platforms that enhance the creation, presentation, and experience of performance art. These technologies can include virtual reality, augmented reality, interactive installations, and software that allows for real-time audience interaction, significantly transforming the way artists engage with their audiences. By integrating these technologies, performers can explore new artistic possibilities, challenge traditional boundaries, and create immersive experiences that elevate their work.
Ephemerality: Ephemerality refers to the quality of being transient or short-lived, particularly in the context of art and performance where the experience exists only in the moment it occurs. This fleeting nature often challenges traditional notions of permanence and invites audiences to engage with art that cannot be fully captured or replicated, emphasizing the importance of the live experience.
Glitch art: Glitch art is an artistic practice that embraces the aesthetic of digital errors, corruption, and malfunctions in visual media. It often seeks to challenge traditional notions of beauty by intentionally introducing imperfections through techniques like data bending, pixel sorting, or circuit bending. This form of art highlights the fragility of technology and raises questions about the relationship between the artist and the digital medium.
Hybrid performances: Hybrid performances are artistic expressions that blend different genres, media, or styles to create a unique and multifaceted experience. This term reflects the increasing intersection of traditional performance art with digital technology, allowing for innovative storytelling and audience engagement through various platforms. By combining elements such as live action, video, sound, and interactive components, hybrid performances challenge conventional boundaries and expand the definition of what performance can be.
Interactivity: Interactivity refers to a dynamic process where participants engage and respond to the actions or inputs of others, creating a two-way exchange rather than a one-sided experience. This concept is crucial in performance art as it emphasizes the relationship between the performer and the audience, blurring traditional boundaries and fostering a shared experience. Interactivity can manifest through various forms, such as audience participation, technology-mediated engagement, and collaborative creation, enhancing the overall experience of the performance.
Motion capture: Motion capture is a technology that records the movement of objects or people, translating their actions into digital data for use in various forms of media, particularly in performance art, film, and video games. By using sensors and cameras, motion capture creates realistic animations that can enhance storytelling and interactive experiences, making it a crucial tool in modern digital performance, virtual environments, and AI-driven performances.
Participatory audience: A participatory audience refers to a group of viewers or participants in a performance who actively engage and contribute to the creation and experience of the art. This involvement can manifest in various ways, such as interacting with performers, influencing the direction of the piece, or participating in discussions and feedback. The essence of this concept lies in blurring the line between the audience and performers, fostering a collaborative atmosphere that enhances the overall impact of the performance.
Participatory Digital Experiences: Participatory digital experiences are interactive engagements that invite audience members to take an active role in shaping the performance or event through digital means. These experiences leverage technology to break down traditional barriers between performers and audiences, creating a dynamic environment where collaboration and co-creation can occur. This approach often blurs the line between spectator and participant, fostering a sense of community and shared ownership in the creative process.
Posthumanism: Posthumanism is a philosophical and cultural movement that challenges the traditional notion of what it means to be human, advocating for the integration of technology, biology, and environment in redefining human identity and existence. It emphasizes the interconnectedness of humans with other beings and systems, promoting a view that transcends anthropocentrism and explores new forms of existence. This concept invites critical reflection on the implications of technology and the evolving relationship between humanity and its environment.
Projection mapping: Projection mapping is a technique that transforms irregularly shaped objects into dynamic video displays by projecting images onto them, creating an immersive visual experience. It allows artists and performers to merge digital content with physical environments, blurring the lines between reality and the virtual world. This technology has evolved to become a significant tool in modern performance art, enhancing storytelling and audience engagement.
Remote Viewing: Remote viewing is the practice of attempting to perceive or describe details about a distant or unseen target using extrasensory perception (ESP) or 'anomalous cognition.' This concept is particularly relevant in contexts where performance art utilizes technology to bridge physical and virtual spaces, enabling artists to explore and present experiences beyond immediate sensory perception.
Social media engagement: Social media engagement refers to the interaction and participation that audiences have with content shared on social media platforms, including likes, shares, comments, and overall involvement. This concept is essential as it indicates how well content resonates with viewers and encourages active participation, which can amplify the reach and impact of digital performances. Understanding social media engagement helps creators gauge audience reactions and tailor their strategies to foster deeper connections and community involvement.
Social media integration: Social media integration refers to the seamless connection between social media platforms and other digital or physical performance spaces, allowing for real-time interaction and engagement between audiences and performers. This integration enhances the overall experience by enabling audiences to participate actively, share content, and contribute creatively, thereby reshaping traditional roles in performance art.
Streaming technology: Streaming technology refers to the delivery of audio, video, and other multimedia content over the internet in real-time. This technology allows users to access and consume content without having to download it completely first, making it possible to enjoy performances, films, and live events instantly. With its ability to facilitate immediate access to digital performances, streaming technology has revolutionized how audiences engage with art and entertainment.
Telematic performances: Telematic performances are live, interactive art events that use digital communication technologies to connect performers and audiences across geographical distances. These performances often blend traditional art forms with digital media, allowing for real-time collaboration and participation, creating a unique experience that transcends physical boundaries. The integration of technology not only enhances the artistic expression but also challenges the notion of presence and intimacy in performance art.
Viral performance: Viral performance refers to a type of digital performance that gains rapid popularity and widespread sharing through social media and online platforms. This phenomenon often relies on relatable content, humor, or engaging narratives that resonate with audiences, leading to increased visibility and interaction. Viral performances can encompass various formats, including video, live streams, and interactive experiences, reflecting the evolving landscape of digital art and audience engagement.
Virtual presence: Virtual presence refers to the experience of being present in a digital or virtual environment, often facilitated by technology that creates the illusion of real-time interaction. This concept is crucial in understanding how individuals engage with one another and with performances in online settings, impacting the dynamics of connection, communication, and immersion in various digital contexts.
Virtual reality platforms: Virtual reality platforms are immersive digital environments that allow users to interact with computer-generated simulations through specialized hardware and software. These platforms create a sense of presence, enabling users to feel as if they are part of a virtual world, which can be utilized in various forms of performance art to enhance storytelling and audience engagement.