The World as a Digital Stage
Leigh Cunningham is a Nottingham based artist and writer. He is currently Intern for Hatch as part of the NEAT 11 Festival. He caught up with fellow participants, The Cutting Room, alias Jennifer Ross and Clare Harris for an interview and to review their current exhibition with artist group, The Engagement Party at Nottingham Playhouse.
‘The World as a Digital Stage’ is the latest show by The Cutting Room curatorial team of Clare Harris and Jennifer Ross. Four works by the artist group 'Engagement Party' are exhibited throughout the Nottingham Playhouse in the foyers and café. The intention of the show is to investigate human interaction with technology and to take the opportunity to generate this dialogue within the theatrical backdrop of the Playhouse.
The show naturally relies heavily on the use of technology to engage the curiosity of the viewer. Brendan Oliver’s Attention Seeking Bores consists of two pairs of floating red female lips projected onto a screen, who will compliment or insult you depending on your proximity. You get a real sense of two distinct personalities coming through the disembodied mouths. Graham Elstone and Peter Bowcott’s Jolly Jim's Place Yer Face recreates a seaside cutout by placing the participant’s face onto random avatars. The work is immediate and simple - you place your head into a carnival-esque striped box and break the calm silence of the Playhouse theatre foyer when prompted to shout “Oi !”
The work balances well with the intimacy of Attention Seeking Bores. You’re in a very fun, communal environment, where passers by and friends can revel in the fact you’ve just placed your face onto a slug and other creatures and characters. There is a slightly disjointed experience with both of these works, which I feel was due to the use of facial recognition cameras to interface with the human presence in the space to create a feedback loop of interaction and action. You feel you’re having to act to the cameras sensors to trigger the programmed response, rather than engaging with the content of the work directly, which feels counter intuitive to the original intention of the works. The compliments from Attention Seeking Bores feels even more scripted and empty knowing that she's only saying it because you’re prompting her by your proximity, and the seaside photos of Jolly Jim’s Place Yer Face become even more ridiculous (and embarrassing) because you have to shout extremely loud for the microphone to trigger the camera. In a way perhaps this disconnect adds a 'staged' element to the role of the viewer feeling very aware of participating 'as audience' and the significance of the reality of experiencing this exhibition at the Playhouse Theatre.
Thomas Hall’s commissioned work; Pepper’s Ghost successfully combines technology old and new with reflections of a digitally cloned actor re-enacting theatre archetypes between curtain calls. The 3D effect of the images reflected through the series of glass panels’ gives depth to an entire stage with cast and props on a small plinth. In contrast to the playful and interactive works of it's neighbours’, Pepper’s Ghost is a passive experience in keeping with its traditional theatre source. The actors act and the scenes play out - the work demands your time, rather than your participation. The illusion of shape and form created gives a tangible presence that really connects you to the work and the theatricality of human interaction within the technology.
I felt unsure of Peter Bowcott’s Lowbrow Trash, Gossip which consists of tweets displayed in the style of the information displays which were used in large train stations of the past. The use of twitter combined with a slightly kitsch design nostalgia seemed fitting in the cast bar/café, but altogether separate from the theatrical vocabulary of the other works and sadly I feel it didn't sit well within the ideas of the exhibition.
‘The World as a Digital Stage’ showcases Engagement Party’s refreshing approach to technology and audience and The Cutting Room’s commitment to bringing exciting new media art to Nottingham. The successful implementation of the technology is inconsistent but raises interesting insights into the role of audience and viewer. Through playful interaction and a dialogue with its placement in the theatre ‘The World as a Digital Stage’ provides an engaging exchange between theatre and new media.
www.the-cutting-room.org
www.thisisengagementparty.co.uk
www.nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
What is The Cutting Room and what is it about?
Clare :It’s a curatorial collaboration; we hope to work with film and new media to engage new audiences. That’s the basic stuff, what we aim to do.
What brought you both together?
Clare: We graduated together, and we both work in film but very differently, and I think from that we realised we had similar interests although we work very differently in our own areas.
A lot of your projects are exhibited between Nottingham Playhouse and Broadway Cinema, not in your traditional art space. Was that a deliberate choice when you began The Cutting Room?
Jen : We were actually invited by the Playhouse to establish a digital programme. And from that 3 month internship, the Playhouse has asked us to come back for the NEAT festival to curate this show.
How did ‘The World as a Digital Stage come together’?
Jen: the Playhouse asked us to put a show together; they came up with ‘The World as a Digital Stage’ and we selected the artworks … We did want to tie it into the theatre and the Playhouse building and also we wanted to direct the role of the viewer and the audience, get them to consider how they interact with the artwork.
Do you feel you were definitely directing this towards a more traditional theatre audience than a visual art or film based one?
Clare: Yes we are, and also within the NEAT Festival we’re drawing in new crowds, new audiences. So it’s got to be very accessible.
Due to the technology, is the audience interaction purely driving the work forward, perhaps more than the works content. I’m not saying it’s a gimmick but perhaps as a tool that taps into human curiosity?
Clare: it’s to seduce them and draw them in, to engage.
Jen: From previous things we did at the Playhouse we realised … we’re appealing to slightly different people so we wanted something which was initially very aesthetically pleasing and that would draw them to the artwork and get them to engage with it.
Finally then, what’s next for The Cutting Room?
Clare: There’s going to be an essay written by ourselves to accompany ‘The World as a Digital Stage’. We have several projects in the pipeline, but nothing that we can really reveal yet. We have just confirmed a film + Q&A project at Broadway cinema which will be later in the year.
