Hyperessay: Online Symposium

The online symposium was a very intriguing experience for me as it took me through various concepts that I have learned throughout the semester, such as, cyber performance, the third space, networking and digital glitches. This was done through a series of live performance and presentations conducted by artists from all around the world.

The highlight of Day 1 symposium was Annie Abraham’s performance titled Entanglement. It was a collaborative work that involved 6 other performers from all around the world to synchronise a sequence through Adobe Connect. The  performance reminded me of the tele-drift project as it explored the boundaries of the third space where people from different locations connect in real-time. The use of third space inevitably resulted in latency and audio malfunctioning, which offered “us an alternative space beyond perfection” as Marc Garrett had mentioned. It was a fascinating experience to see everyone embracing the chaos without faze, despite the recurrence of technical problems.

In the sequence, the performers were to showcase several objects of their own, one at a time. With every change of object they will have to recite a phrase. There was synchronisation among the performers in terms of the placement of objects and their timing. However, the types of objects and phrases presented were totally random. It was later explained that each artist had chosen about 15 political phrases to address the local situations in their countries. There were also not much directing and restrictions imposed, that gave the performers a lot of freedom for self expression.

This performance embraced the essence of DIWO as it involves a collaborative work between different curator of different cultural and political background. The involvement of different parties enhances the experience, as well as, the message intended. It also made the performance unpredictable and eccentric.

For Day 2 of the symposium, there was a series of performance conducted by Jon Cates with Roberto Sifuentes, Arcángel Constantini, Shawné Michaelain Holloway, Janet Lin & Paula Pinho Martins Nacif. The one that stood out to me was Roberto Sifuentes’ performance. It was very disturbing to see living leeches being placed on the man. As the leeched were sucking out his blood, he gave no signs of resistance. The process was facilitated by a female assistant that helped to place and remove the leeches.

The performance resembled a ritual, with an executor, a victim and blood. It portrayed an interesting dynamics between the man, the woman and also the leeches. In the first part of the show the woman was the one that was inflicting pain on the man as she place the leeches on the man. Towards the end there was a shift of power and she became a healer, helping the man clean up his wound. This shows a contrasting portrayal of cruelty and compassion. Similarly, the man started out at a very vulnerable state, with the leeches all over him. Later, he assumed a masculine and aggressive persona as he hit and strangle himself with the rod.

I thought that the performance was trying to convey progressive violence and self harm. It also addressed the issue of gender roles, how people perceive genders and how they should act. While this intense performance was going on, a split screen displayed artist Arcángel drawing on a neon surface. The seriousness of  Sifuentes’ performance was downplayed by the futuristic music being played Arcángel performance. I thought the effect was very captivating, bringing the audiences into a trance.

In my opinion, the symposium could be more interactive by allowing the audience to change the course of the performance. Yet, I have to agree that the performances were a departure from traditional work. The use of third space allowed us to be at a different location all at once. It also allowed us to interact with one another in the chat group while the performance was on-going unlike many traditional performances where the audience have to stay silent throughout the entire show.