How can I appear in my
collaborator’s space even though
I’m physically in another location?
DIS/PLACED
Virtual online performance. Dec 2020
work-in-progress
“While the border seeks to prevent one from crossing, the threshold seems to invite such a crossover. […] While borders create clear divisions, thresholds mark a space of possibilities, empowerment, and metamorphosis. (…) the aesthetics of the performative aims at a border-crossing art, this means that it transforms borders into thresholds. The aesthetic of the performative allows for an art of passage”
- Erika Fischer-Lichte
There are many barriers to human connection at this moment in history. dis/placed is an experiment in building new emotional and physical thresholds that cross the borders of time, space, and nationality. Two performers from two different continents (North America and Europe) virtually meet in a room. Through a combination of streaming technologies, movement, and voice, the performers conjure a new kind of togetherness, reviving a sense of physical connection despite our social and geographical distance.
Watch the work excerpt ↓
THE CHOREOGRAPHER’S NOTES:
I have seen others approach virtual collaboration via pre-recorded video editing, however, that wasn't satisfying to me. Wanting to appear in my collaborator's actual space and interact in real-time, I used live projection to digitally travel hundreds of miles. I was looking for a way to overcome the pandemic's biggest challenge:
isolation.
dis/placed (2020)
Created by Rourou Ye, Avan Omer & Mary Notari
Concept: Rourou Ye
The work is performed live over the internet with the performers in different continents.
The performance is a result of the online residency "JUST A STAGE" via Electron.art (Tallinn, Estonia)
Solution & Experiment / Stage vs. behind the scenes
The process was mesmerizing to me because the work challenges and blurs the notions of loneliness and reality. During rehearsals, we went online, and became physically connected. I could see and feel her presence even though she was intangible.
Was I alone?
Was she?
Will this be the future?
PROJECT
HISTORY
FESTIVAL OF SPOOKY ACTION AT A DISTANCE
Elektron Art (Tallinn, Estonia)
2 April 2021, Virtually worldwide
FRUITFUL MISUNDERSTANDING - ART+SCIENCE
Elektron Art (Tallinn, Estonia)
4 December 2020, Virtually worldwide