Now, where was I? negotiating time in digitally augmented autobiographical performance

ABSTRACT

This article examines the complex interplay of past, present and future in the unfolding moment of performance of digitally augmented autobiographical storytelling. Performers of autobiography, whether on stage or in everyday life, engage in a practice of identity construction in the dynamic and shifting moment of performance. This requires a negotiation with unstable memories, photographic traces and the responses of the co-present audience.

The nature of temporality within digitally augmented autobiographical performance is best understood through Judith Butler's (1999) understanding of performativity, Mike Pearson and Michael Shanks' (2001) notion of interpretive archaeology, Erika Fischer-Lichte's (2008) ‘space between’ and Dierdre Heddon's (2008) framing of autobiographical performance. These theories are used to identify techniques for engaging with temporality in two case studies from theatrical performance and two from the field of human-computer interaction (HCI).

By drawing on very different disciplines, we sketch out the beginnings of a framework for understanding the role of personal and autobiographical digital media in the here and now of live performance, and how such experiences should be designed. This framework points towards the emerging field of performative experience design, which aims to enable empowering storytelling experiences that extend the present moment of performance by negotiating the space between past and present, memory and imagination.

KEYWORDS:

• temporality
• autobiography
• performance
• digital media
• human-computer interaction
• performative experience design