Month: February 2013

Forkbeard Fantasy

Lizzy Hayes / / CCTV, Documentation, Performance process, Rooms

We have been toying with the potential performative use of the CCTV room, whether or not to have a performance occur in the room or only through the eyes of the camera’s in the rest of the house. It has been suggested to me that it could be an interesting idea to explore how we, the CCTV operatives, could interact with the technology to make an interesting performance.

This reminded me of a performance and workshop I took part in a few years ago. With my school we worked with a company called Forkbeard Fantasy- a company of two brothers who interacted with film and screens live on stage in a way that I had then never seen before.

All of their performances to date rely heavily on the projection of pre-recorded and live footage, as can be seen above. In The Colour of Nonsense (2010), among other pre-recordings and animations the company played pre-recorded footage of a woman entering an apartment in an elevator. The recording spoke to the actors and they responded to the screen as though the woman was actually on stage, though she was never physically present. The effect of the well rehearsed interaction was comical and fascinating. The actors explain, ““What we were doing was creating a living dynamic between stage & screen, where the filmed sequences become part of the world on stage into which and out of which the performers can move –from stage to screen and back again… and performers in film or on stage communicate and talk with one another across this Celluloid Divide”.” (( http://forkbeardfantasy.co.uk/new_ffs_use_of_film10.html  (Accessed 3rd March 2013) ))

Another example of artists using film and projection to create a performance is installation artist Gary Hill. Nick Kaye suggests when commenting on Gary Hills Standing Apart (1996) that video recordings add the ‘capacity of having and presence and a distance at the same time’ ((Kaye, Nick (2007) Multi-Media:Video Installation Performance. London: Routledge p. 135 )). I think that statement is true of any video recording in that the person on screen is in the room without being physically present, but it is particularly relevant to much of Forkbeard’s work.
While he uses recordings and projection Gary Hills work is very different from that of Forkbeards not only because the type of performance is different, but the ways in which they use the technology. Hills Installation piece The Viewer (1996) uses pre-recorded images but without sound.  For the piece seventeen men were captured on camera standing still (or barely moving) for ten minutes. These clips of footage were then projected onto a wall at the same time on a continuous loop. The use of video and projection was not to tell a story or to interact with or to represent a character, but was instead to suggest the presence of someone who is not there, to be “fully visible and absent” at the same time” (( Nick Kaye (2007) Multi Media: Video Installation Performance. London: Routledge. P. 131 )) . I think that is notion of omnipresence is one that the me and my fellow CCTV operatives can associate with. During exploration of the house we have communicated with other ‘residents’ about what they are doing or saying though we were never physically present with them.

Let’s escape from reality.

Elizabeth Soper / / Performance process, Rooms, West Parade

“The kitchen today is the cockpit of the dwelling, its high-tech gadgets and stainless steel fittings and electronics confirm its status as the nerve centre.” ((Heathcote, Edwin (2012) The Meaning Of Home, London: Frances Lincoln Ltd, p.56))

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http://www.divadlohome.net/shows/doma.html

The kitchen has a certain purpose and everyone uses it for that function. Most people wouldn’t use their kitchen to sit and watch TV in or have a nap. There is also the concept of time that is relevant to the kitchen. The waiting for the bread to pop up from the toaster, the microwave to ping and the kettle to boil. “Places are about relationships, about the placing of peoples, materials, images and the systems of difference that they perform.” ((Pearson, Mike  (2010) Site-Specific Performance, UK: Palgrave Macmillan, p.13))

So what would happen if we changed the function of the kitchen, if its purpose was completely different? And what if the waiting never ended? This quote written by Tim Etchells made me think about the reality and how far we can stretch the imagination, playing with the audiences perceptions to create something quite the opposite to what it should be; “how long do you have to have lived somewhere until you are allowed to lie about it?” ((Govan, Emma, Helen Nicholson and Katie Normington (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA, Routledge, p.131))

Perhaps using the kitchen as a space to do something else could be experimented with. This is something that Lital Dotan from Williamsburg did when she opened her house to the public and it became ‘The Glasshouse Project’. Her kitchen had various objects in for example, using the cupboard space as a bookshelf instead of storing food.

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Williamsburg Couple Showcasing Their Home as Art Gallery, Online: “http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120823/williamsburg/williamsburg-couple-showcasing-their-home-as-art-gallery” http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20120823/williamsburg/williamsburg-couple-showcasing-their-home-as-art-gallery (accessed: 21st Febuary 2013).

DoMA / at HoME is another example of a performance in a house which includes different performances, some rehearsed and prepared, and some improvised. The performances differ with the various people taking part, as each person lives somewhat differently, in diverse spaces and places. This is reflected in each individual space in the house as the performers experiences of home are the influence for their performance.

“Home is where the heart is…”

Faye Rose Mcdool / / CCTV, Documentation, Home
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Taken By Faye McDool

Home is “the place of one’s dwelling and nurturing, with its association” ((Little, W (1969) “The Oxford Universal Dictionary”, London: Oxford University Press.)). Entering the house, I got the complete opposite feeling to this definition of home.  My first impressions were that the house was cold, damp, dirty and therefore a perfect performance space for a site specific performance.

From the reading, Pearson lists the differences between a performance on a stage and site specific. “At site, it is always as if for the first time” ((Pearson, Mike (2010) Site-Specific Performance, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. p17 )). Gaining the unique opportunity and experience to devise a piece from the house made everyone begin to have ideas for the final piece.  Using the CCTV equipment installed in the house, the idea was said to prerecord some material and play it during the live performance causing juxtaposition. This could be used to a great extent as we could play with the audience and their reaction to the performance by filming it.

Learning how to use the CCTV system  was very interesting to see the rooms from a different prospective . I found Govans Revisioning Place “ inhabiting space” interesting reflecting on the CCTV. “Making performance which deals with travel, context and orientation” ((Govan, Emma, et al (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA, Routledge p121)) From watching the groups in different rooms and how they adjusted to them to make a performance made me think of this as they all explored the rooms and what was in them. They also played a lot with props and explored the cupboards so they became more familiar with the space after their orientation.

When watching the groups, I was reflecting on how I could see everything in the rooms and what performance rehearsals were occurring. “From a different disciplinary standpoint” ((Pearson, Mike 2010, Site Specific Performance, Palgrave p23)) I had an inspirational idea from Eve Dent. Her work involves adjusting her body to where ever she decides to hides and only being able see her if you’re looking for her but to most people, she is invisible. This gave me the idea of the audience to explore and challenge them to find places to hide around the house. Some should be obvious that other but in some rooms like master bed room, there is a cupboard where you can fit at least two people and it would be interesting to see if they open the cupboard to find the performers. “Organic connection between art and the environment.” ((Govan, Emma, et al (2007) Making a Performance, Devising Histories and Contemporary Practices Oxon and USA, Routledge p133))

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Event Dent ((Eve Dent, Tel Aviv,, Google Images Accessed 1/2/2012))
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Eve Dent ((Eve Dent, Bird in the House,, Google Images Accessed 1/2/2012))

While I was watching the other groups on the CCTV, I had become familiar with listening in to their conversations. Making this productive we recorded it on the CCTV then writing down creating a script which we then went to that particular room and repeated it to them. This is the use of Verbatim. “The term verbatim refers to the origins of the text spoken in the play. The words of real people are recorded or transcribed be a dramatist during interview or research process…actors take on the characters of the real individuals whose words are being used.” ((Hammond, Will & Steward, Dan , 2008. Verbatim p9)) We tested and their  reaction was just what we was looking for. This also links back to the reading and the Last Supper. “gives voice to the voiceless.” ((Govan, Emma. Nicholson, Helen & Normingtion, Katie 2007 Making a performance. Routledge p115)) As an audience member, one usually may think they are not allowed the speak during a performance and giving the the realisation that they have been watched. However, we had the idea of listening in to their conversation when none of the performers are in the room and repeating it to them when they least expect it.

“This sense of evoking the invisible is increased through a number of devices, including the director’s encouragement of ‘non-performing’, … Indeed, the whole status of the performers is ambiguous. Are the actors themselves? (they are named as such in the script.) Are they personas? Are they momentarily representations of the people whose words the speak?” ((Govan, Emma. Nicholson, Helen & Normingtion, Katie 2007 Making a performance. Routledge p115))