As we use Adobe Connect for our virtual classroom, in which we will hold class while I am in Washington, DC, it will become clear that the”third space” is a vital medium for live performance. This micro-project, in preparation for Helen Varley Jamieson’s performance later this semester, will involve web-conferencing as a space for distributed performance: together we will create “The Telematic Embrace” as a networked workshop performance. During our first remote class on Wednesday February 11, Virtual Bodies in Telematic Space, we will explore a set of actions, which we will use to explore the third space as a medium for uniting ourselves collectively and performatively in the third space.
Written Assignment (due in two weeks, Feb. 18th, in time for Chinese New Year):
To complete the assignment, take a screen shot of one of our performed action(s) from class (see the Facebook Group page) and write about the action(s) describing how we interact with one another in the third space in approximately 200 words. Some things to consider: do we experience the third space as real space, space that gives us the impression of proximity to one another? Even though we are not together, we have the sensation of begin together. Why is this? Why do we sense an intimacy and closeness? Is it purely psychological? Are we become native to the third space and sense closeness to others, just as we do in the physical world? And finally, how can we exploit the third space for our own creative purposes. Can we transform the virtuality of shared electronic space into something playful, absurd, and compelling?
Examples of Third Space “Protocols” Previously Performed
For example, here is a project by two former ADM students who “read” a book and “listened” to music together in the third space, despite geographical separation:
As you can see from this example, we are united with people on the Internet via the “telematic embrace,” even though we are in separate locations, a few blocks away or even around the world. In the third space, distance is collapsed and we collectively act together in ways that are only limited by the imagination. Here are some additional examples of third space actions that unite us across distances and separation:
Here two heads become one, listening together, thinking together, contemplating together.
Touching within the shared electronic space, as well as using a shared object (towel) as an element that binds everyone together collectively, like a costume in traditional theater.
Arms extended up, joining limbs, male/female.
Holding the doll/avatar as one extended figure: two human bodies and one inanimate doll.
The multiple expression, shared headphones, one-headed bi-individual.
The mutant? How the human body is transfigured by joining collectively with others.
The two-bodied “shoosh,” Is this what it takes to indicate silence in the third space?
And lastly, the collective hand, pressed up to the screen.
This micro-project is intended to explore ways in which we can use Adobe Connect and the third space to create gestures, actions, mutations, collective bodies, etc. into performance works that bridge the local and the remote. Using these examples as a starting point, we will devise out own actions using various gestures, objects, and ways to connect ourselves together despite geographical separation.