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Thesis Outline 2.0

Thesis Outline Max Dovey Jan 20/01/2015

How does technology mediate performance and our experience of liveness?
To investigate authenticity in performance and the mediation of the live act.

Introduction

Within this Thesis I will investigate why the authenticity of live still resides within the physiological when live experience that uses digital technology is still commonly viewed as a reproduction and (in) authentic.
The Internet has become a live medium, broadcasting in real time with continually updating websites and mobile devices that update and stay connected to the pulse of digital communication.
In the past performance events (music, Theatre, TV) would be recorded and played back but now the speed and bandwidth of digital creates a live stream or a real-time mediation of a live event.
The immediate, that was once the unmediated direct (physical) encounter is now mediated through video & audio streaming software, social media & 'real-time' coverage.
Now that technology operates within the same time as live experience, why is it still considered a reproduction or mediation in comparison to the physiological presence in time and space?

I will begin by looking at the current definitions of live within performance theory and mass culture before approaching the subject with a technological analysis of 'real-time' to look at the importance of time and liveness in performance. I will bring my practice into the thesis to highlight the tension between the physical and the temporal when defining the authenticity of live performance.
I will discuss the liveness of computers in relation to embodied performance and how we should move towards understanding live as a temporal ontology, rather than a physical ontology.

Theory background

It has to be agreed that liveness has more to do with time and 'now-ness' (Dixon: 132)

The theoretical context is currently situated between arguments put forward by Phillip Auslander in ‘Liveness’ (1999), Peggy Phelan’s ‘Unmarked’ (1993) and Matthew Caurey’s ‘Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture’ (2006).
Peggy Phelan defines the aura of live in its un-reproducibility and ephemerality while Phillip Auslander defines live by its reproducibility. He thinks that live is a product of technological reproduction and that before recorded media the idea of something 'live' didn't exist.
Both provide a strong backdrop for my thesis but look at the authenticity of live to be a phenomenological ontology and often define the authenticity of liveness with physical presence.
When technology has become so ubiquitous and mediates experiences in near real time it seems slack to just distinguish the authenticity of what live is based upon physical definitions. When live events are being directly mediated or our mobile devices are interacting feeding back into our experiences distinguishing live based on its physical or technological form seems dated as technology continues to converge into our live experience(s).
I will draw on the current theoretical debate to create a temporal analysis of live and to define lives authenticity by its temporality, bringing in my practice that combines both 'real-time' data and physical performer.
What is of particular interest is that my work dwells between the two understandings of liveness as I combine data with embodied performance to create a sense of live authenticity.

Structure

Part 1

Performance

Chapter aims - present theorists on the authentic being the real, the unmediated moment that is a physical ontology, not technological. Arguments in popular culture that the aura is located as a physical attribute detached from media.

The authentic and the real - Defined by chosen texts (Auslander,Phelan)
'Put away your phones' live events and technology in mass culture. The current urge in music events and theatre for audiences to put away their phones to experience the live moment. The essentialist idea that the authentic live moment is physical and isolated from (mobile) media.
The psychological sensation of the real & the authentic occurring in the body

Refs

Media as simulacrum - Baudrillard
A sense of presence

Part 2

Real-Time

Chapter aims - Real-time as a technological form creates the authentic liveness. Data and its role in our temporal experience. Analyse real-time as a structure tempo contrasted to the flowing nature of ephemeris time. Performing against it.

The authenticity of the immediate - live as a temporal ontology

Refs

The illusion of real-time (media object)
Living in perpetual now (Douglas Rushkoff 'Present Shock')
A brief history of Real-time - Makul Patel

Part 3

Interviews

Conduct interviews with some theatre makers, artists who use technology in their work to create a live experience. (Data-driven narratives)

Part 4

OUTPUT

Chapter Aims - To bring examples of my work and others into the debate to highlight my position in relation to the Phelan / Auslander debate.

Chapter Aims - To bring examples of my work and others into the debate to highlight my position in relation to the the Phelan / Auslander debate.

Essay on method

real-time performance

Bots, computational data & improvisation

Bibliograpghy

Liveness and Performance in a Mediated Culture, Phillip Auslander, 1999

Digital performance: A History of New Media in Theatre, Dance, Performance art and Installation, Steve Dixon, 2007

Unmasked: The politics of performance, Peggy Phelan, 1993

Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture, Matthew Caurey, 2006

Art in the Age of technical reproducibility, Walter Benjamin, 1936

Thesis outline Max Dovey Jan 14/01/2015 How does technology mediate performance and our experience of liveness?
To investigate authenticity in performance and the mediation of the live act. Introduction
I am investigating the notion of live with performance and technology.
I perform with data streams and computer feedback, the transient nature of real time data can create an authentic, ephemeral moment with technology. The infrastructure of the internet and its mobility means information is continually transmitted and becomes 'live' with real-time interfaces and always on devices.
I want to analyse what live is in a technological and performance context and how its authenticity can be mediated. Through doing this i can further my understanding of why my performance based practice, that combines real-time media and embodied physical presence, challenges the authenticity of liveness and its relation between temporal and physical ontologies. Theory background it has to be agreed that liveness has more to do with time and 'now-ness' (Dixon:132) The theoretical context is currently situated between arguments put forward by Phillip Auslander in ‘Liveness’ (1999), Peggy Phelan’s ‘Unmarked’ (1993) and Matthew Caurey’s ‘Theatre and Performance in Digital Culture’ (2006).
Phelan defines the aura of live in its unreproducability and ephemerality while Auslander defines live by its reproducibility, that before recorded media the live didn't exist. Both look at the authenticity of live to be a phenomenological ontology and define liveness with the aura of presence, but when presence is (re)created with this 'now-ness' of real-time technology the aura of live becomes technological, not physical.
In my work i challenge both theoretical positions because i combine embodied performance with real time technology to explore the authentic within live performance. My approach will be similar to Caurey : The ontology of performance (liveness) which exists before and after mediatization has been altered within the space of technology. (Caurey) to look at performance within the ontology of the technological, specifically performance and real time technology.
The existing debate looks at performance as a physiological ontology, id like to look at liveness as a temporal object so that the debate around authenticity in performance can be looked at within the networked, computational context (e.g. data and performance). Structure Part 1
Performance
Chapter aims - present theorists on the authentic being the real, the unmediated moment that is a physical ontology, not technological. arguments in popular culture that the aura is located as a physical attribute detached from media.

'Put away your phones' Live events and technology in mass culture . The current urge in music events and theatre for audiences to put away their phones to experience the live moment. The essentialist idea that the authentic live moment is physical and isolated from (mobile) media.
The psychological sensation of the real & the authentic occurring in the body
media as simulacrum - Baurdrillard
A sense of presence (or the persistent problem of presence)