New social contracts and digital intimacy in mammalian diving reflex’s the lockdown resolution

ABSTRACT

In July 2021, Canadian performance company Mammalian Diving Reflex premiered The Lockdown Resolution at Arnolfini, a contemporary art centre in Bristol, UK. Combining virtual reality (VR) hardware, 360° film and Zoom teleconferencing, the performance connected ten ‘in real life’ (IRL) audience members to ten remote audience members around the world. Through conversations and immersive, tech-mediated interaction, audiences found out about each other and the lives of three young Bristolians during lockdown. Drawing on research in VR and social dynamics, this paper examines human-tech interfacing in The Lockdown Resolution, exploring synchrony, social presence and intimacy to social cohesion. Examining social engagement through multiple-reality performance, producer Nadia Abdelaziz and Mammalian Founder Darren O’Donnell investigate digital intimacy in performance and its role in creating an opportunity for civic development. At the centre of this activity, Mammalian create space for young people to lead these interactions. Bristol-based young performers Chris Lewis (18), Alke Schwarz (19) and Germain Loud (21) co-devised the show working with local creatives over a series of workshops, meetings and rehearsals. Offering insight into Mammalian Diving Reflex’s working methods, we imagine and discuss the civic potential of new social contracts that might be created through intimate and immersive digital performance.

KEYWORDS:

• Human-tech interfacing
• digital intimacy
• immersive performance
• virtual reality
• socially engaged practice

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

The Lockdown Resolution was presented as part of In Between Time festival and supported by Canada Council for the Arts.

Notes on contributors

Nadia Abdelaziz

Nadia Abdelaziz is a producer and researcher based in the UK. In 2021, she was the Programme Producer of In Between Time’s hybrid performance festival IBT21/THE RUPTURE. Her current research focus is on digital-live hybrid performance practices that facilitate meaningful local engagement and global interaction through future tech and digital communication. Nadia is the Programme Manager for Play Inside, an immersive audio performance series funded by The British Council International Collaboration Fund, working with artists and writers in Palestine, Egypt and the UK. She holds an MFA in Performance Practice from the University of Exeter with a specialism focusing daily martial arts practice towards somatic systems of performer training. She is a contributing author in Joshua Sofaer: Performance, Objects, Participation published by The Live Art Development Agency and Intellect Press, 2020.

Darren O’Donnell

Darren O’Donnell is the Artistic and Research Director of the Toronto-based performance company Mammalian Diving Reflex. Social engagement is at the core of Mammalian’s practice where new social contracts are imagined in collaboration with local youth. He has written numerous books, including Haircuts by Children and Other Evidence for a New Social Contract (2018) and Social Acupuncture (2002) which describe Mammalian’s socially-engaged performance practice (Coach House Books). Mammalian’s performance, The Lockdown Resolution, facilitates digital encounters between people who might not ordinarily interact, using 360° film, video conferencing and live conversations across time zones. The Last Minutes Before Mars and The Lockdown Resolution mark Mammalian’s first explorations into digitally immersive realms to explore the potential of social engagement using VR.