User:Fako Berkers/project3

History Will Repeat Itself

Both in the essay and in the practical assignment I want to study how re-enactment relates to simulation. I think these concepts are very similar, but they are also different in a few ways. By creating an enacted simulation and writing about what others have said about these two phenomena I hope to learn a great deal about how computers and performance art can relate to each other.

Practise

In my practical assignment I want to focus upon the embodiment of simulations. An important aspect of re-enactments is the opportunity for the audience/participants to live through an important moment in history. A simulation is used to analyse a system and make tactical decisions based on this analysis. It is never used as a tool to give an experience. Embodiment is a first step to such a purpose for simulations.

At the moment I'm thinking about how the simulation will be handling input and output. For output I think there are the following options:

• Projection on a screen or the ground. I have a 4x3 meter projection screen and projection on different fabrics might also be interesting.
• SMS gateway. This allows a computer to send messages to mobile phones. If you hand out devices you can control the sound they make. Tim Etchells has worked with instruction over SMS.
• Mobile internet. You can give instructions over a smartphone compatible site. I will be able to control sound (and video) on those devices.
• Analogue. A person can call out the instructions he/she reads on a screen, or transfer them in some other analogue way.
• DMX. A computer can control the lighting in a theatre and give signals this way.
• Headphone. Computer speech can go through a (bluetooth) headphone.