[spectre] 25th June - Thursday club, Goldsmiths special event - Theorizing Performance in Virtual Spaces

[alex]

Please note that the last Thursday club of this term will be.

THURSDAY CLUB, THURSDAY JUNE 25th 2009

Goldsmiths, University of London
Ben Pimlott lecture theatre

PLEASE NOTE THAT IT IS A

7pm start

All welcome and free

Theorizing Performance in Virtual Spaces

The presentation will describe and analyze the theoretical issues for
Performance Studies posed by new genres of performance in virtual
environments, such as Second Life. We will also demonstrate
the technological modifications to Second Life that our team has developed
to facilitate a new form of mediated performance and outline the
experiments that we have initiated to take advantage of this technology.
Utilizing a panel discussion format involving live participants and
avatars in Second Life, our presentation aims to shed light on the unique
opportunities provided by virtual environments in formulating new
approaches to theorizing contemporary performance practices.   A
fundamental premise of the discipline of Performance Studies is that
theory is enlivened and most rigorously tested when it hits the ground in
practice.  We at Georgia Tech have a particular opportunity to test that
premise, because our institution is a meeting ground for technological
practice and critical reflection.

The Augmented Environments Lab (AEL) and the Wesley Center for New Media
are in the process of developing technological modifications to Second
Life that will facilitate a new form of mediated performance, one in which
actors and audience share a performance space that is both physical and
virtual.  We are already planning performances that will take advantage of
this technology: these performances will be a negotiation between
professional improv artists in the city of Atlanta and technologists here
at Georgia Tech.

Members of the team presenting are

Kathryn Farley, Prof. Jay Bolter, Professor Michael Nitsche and grad.
student Jenifer Vandagriff.


Web site for the project: http://arsecondlife.gvu.gatech.edu

The session will be introduced by Maria X