Without the third dimension: technopresence, pedagogies of the virtual, and rethinking performance praxis

ABSTRACT

In the spring of 2020, students in my Contemporary Performance Theory graduate seminar were halfway through developing their final projects, when the university shut down. In this essay, I explore the challenges the artist-scholars in my seminar experienced as they navigated the shift of our process to the digital and also discuss the productive aspects that emerged throughout the process for some of the projects. I argue that in adapting to the digital environment the projects did not become less and they did not become more; they became something else entirely, inviting practitioners and theorists to rethink praxis.

KEYWORDS:

• Mediated performance
• digital performance
• performance and technology
• performance pedagogy
• practice as research

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Lefebvre (2004, 31–32).

2 Though existing virtual and augmented reality technologies increasingly offer 3D digital experiences on a variety of platforms, their existence does not change the truth of this statement since 3D creates a sense of space and the current technologies are still very rarely utilised in the production or teaching of performance. The fact that 3D cinema or television experiences have never gained significant popularity also suggests that these experiences may not become broadly adopted anytime soon, at least until the technologies become more advanced and ubiquitous.

3 The use of ‘live’ in mediated performance requires qualification as there is always a lag even with the fastest available digital transmission.

4 ‘Third dimension.’ Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary.

5 For a detailed discussion on such exercises see my article (Erincin 2023).

6 I first experienced a version of this exercise as a graduate student in José Esteban Muñoz's seminar in Performance Theory at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.

7 I conduct all seminars in our black box studio/performance space even when they are heavier on theory, lecture, and discussion.

8 Each time I introduce the exercise, I credit Karen Finley and note that I borrow it from her, as I developed it from an activity she had participants practice when I took Performance Composition with her at Tisch.

9 Developers have been working on enhancing features which show attendees blended in a single background e.g. the same classroom, creating an appearance of shared space.

10 Matthew Sparkes's (2021) article in the New Scientist defines the metaverse as: ‘It's a shared online space that incorporates 3D graphics, either on a screen or in virtual reality. Science fiction author Neal Stephenson coined the term in his 1992 novel Snow Crash, which features a future virtual reality version of the internet called the Street. More recently, a metaverse called OASIS featured in the novel and film Ready Player One.' Also recently, Arizona State University's Dreamscape Learn initiative adapted virtual reality technologies for enhancing learning outcomes in college education.