Digital Practices
Also by Susan Broadhurst LIMINAL ACTS: A Critical Overview of Contemporary Performance and Theory PERFORMANCE AND TECHNOLOGY: Practices of Virtual Embodiment and Interactivity (co-edited with Josephine Machon)
Digital Practices Aesthetic and Neuroesthetic Approaches to Performance and Technology Susan Broadhurst
Susan Broadhurst 2007 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2007 978-0-230-55313-2 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4LP. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted her right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2007 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 Companies and representatives throughout the world PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-36289-9 ISBN 978-0-230-58984-1 (ebook) DOI 10.1057/9780230589841 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07
For my mother... We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time. (T.S. Eliot, Four Quartets)
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Contents List of Illustrations Acknowledgements ix xi 1 The Digital: A Preliminary View 1 Theoretical overview 2 Digital performance 10 2 Selective Aesthetic Approaches 19 Merleau-Ponty 19 Lyotard 24 Derrida 29 Deleuze 37 3 Neuroesthetics 47 Visual perception 47 A neuroesthetic approach 52 Art and perception 57 Consciousness and the digital 60 4 Live Performance and the Digital 69 Intelligence, interaction, reaction and performance: The Jeremiah project 69 Digital dance, evolution and chance: Merce Cunningham s BIPED 77 Virtuality, cybernetics and the post-human: Stelarc s obsolete body 86 5 Digital Sound, New Media and Interactive Performance 99 Optik: Contact, impulse and electro-acoustic sound 99 Palindrome: Intermedia, collaboration and interaction 110 Troika Ranch: An electronic disturbance 117 vii
viii Contents 6 Digital Film 131 The Matrix trilogy: Bullet time, simulation and virtual cinema 132 Star Wars prequels: The digital force of ILM in Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith 146 7 Bioart 161 Transformation and communication: Eduardo Kac s transgenic art 161 Wetware and GMOs: Critical Art Ensemble s recombinant theatre 168 Butterflies, FISH and functional portraits: Marta De Menezes s aestheticizing of evolution 177 8 Conclusion: Digital Practices 185 Bibliography 196 Index 211
List of Illustrations Figure 3.1 Figure 4.1 Figure 4.2 Figure 4.3 Figure 4.4 Area V4 of the brain. Photo courtesy of Professor Semir Zeki. From the Laboratory of Neurobiology at UCL, www.vislab.ucl.ac.uk 56 Elodie and Jeremiah from Blue Bloodshot Flowers (2001). Director: Sue Broadhurst; Technology: Richard Bowden. Image: Terence Tiernan 70 Elodie and Jeremiah from Blue Bloodshot Flowers. Image by Sally Trussler and Richard Bowden 72 Jeremiah and Director, Blue Bloodshot Flowers. Image by Terence Tiernan 74 Merce Cunningham Dance Company performs BIPED at the Lincoln Center Festival (1999). Credit: Stephanie Berger 78 Figure 4.5 MUSCLE MACHINE. Gallery 291, London (2003). Photographer: Mark Bennett. STELARC 94 Figure 4.6 Figure 5.1 Figure 5.2 Figure 5.3 Extra Ear ¼ Scale (2003). The Tissue Culture & Art (Oron Catts & Ionat Zurr) in collaboration with Stelarc. Biodegradable polymer and human chondrocytes cells, 3cm 1.5cm 1.5cm. Photography by Ionat Zurr 95 Optik perform Xstasis (2003), Montreal, Canada. Photo: Alain Décarie 100 Optik perform Xstasis (2003), Montreal, Canada. Photo: Alain Décarie 108 Demonstration of EyeCon System. Palindrome IMPG (2000), Dancer: Aleksandra Janeva. Photo: Jürgen Henkel 113 ix
x List of Illustrations Figure 5.4 Figure 5.5 Figure 5.6 This image shows a real-time video effect linked to a technology that responds to the touch of two dancers. From the Palindrome opera Blinde Liebe, (2005). Dancers: Aimar Perez Gali, Helena Zwiauer 114 Solo4>Three (2003). Dance and Choreography: Emily Fernandez. Interactive video system: Frieder Weiss. Photo credit: Ralf Denke 116 Danielle Goldman in Surfacing (2004). Photo: Richard Termine 123 Figure 5.7 The Company in Future of Memory (2003). Photo: Richard Termine 124 Figure 5.8 Figure 5.9 Figure 7.1 Figure 7.2 Figure 7.3 Motion tracking leaves three-dimensional traces of the performers movements in Troika Ranch s 16 [R]evolutions (2005). Performers: Johanna Levy & Lucia Tong. Photo: Richard Termine 126 Colour and multiplicity are introduced to imply evolutionary change in 16 [R]evolutions (Performers: Johanna Levy & Daniel Suominen photo A.T. Schaeffer) 127 GenTerra. Performance at St. Norbert Art and Culture Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada (2001) 173 GenTerra. The photo was taken at the Darwin Centre, Natural History Museum, London (2001) 174 Marta de Menezes, Nature? Live Bicyclus anynana butterfly with modified wing pattern. Part of Genes and Genius: The Inheritance of Gregor Mendel, The Mendel Museum (2005) Marta de Menezes 179
Acknowledgements I would like to give special thanks to Josephine Machon, Alan Petersen, Catherine Waldby and Paul Woodward for their professional expertise. I would also like to thank family, particularly Pat Denton, together with James, Suzanne and Louisa; friends, including Hervé Constant, Jacqui Day, Michael Newling, Ros Porter, Sue Ramus; and colleagues Steve Dixon, Barry Edwards, Rachel Fensham, Frédéric Fol Leymarie and Stelarc for their entertainment, friendship and helpful advice. Also, special thanks to Paula Kennedy and Christabel Scaife at Palgrave Macmillan for their support in the publishing process. Many thanks to Semir Zeki from Imperial College, London, for kindly allowing me to include his image of Area V4. I would also like to thank Terence Tiernan, Stephanie Berger, Stelarc, Ionat Zurr and Oron Catts from TCA; Barry Edwards from Optik; Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello from Troika Ranch; Robert Wechler, Frieder Weiss and Emily Fernandez from Palindrome, Steve Kurtz from CAE; and Marta De Menezes for permission to include their images, and thanks to Paul Verity Smith for his technical assistance. The book s cover image is by Richard Termine and is from Troika Ranch s 16 [R]evolutions (2005). The performer is Lucia Tong. Extracts from chapter 4 have previously been published in The Drama Review and Digital Creativity. Extracts from chapter 7 have been published in Body, Space & Technology and extracts from chapter 8 have also been published in Performance Research. xi