Unheimlich

Volume five of the Body, Space and Technology Journal contains a performance by Steve Dixon, Mathias Fuchs, Andrea Zapp and Paul Sermon titled Unheimlich: A telematic theatre performance. A link to the issue is below:

http://people.brunel.ac.uk/bst/vol05/index.html

The term "unheimlich" is a Freudian term referring to something that is "familiar, yet strange." In this performance, participants from two locations are composited together onto a virtual background and digitally share the same stage (each location only has a blue background in their immediate physical location; thus they have to interact with participants in their own location as well as in the other by viewing the screen). The performance consists of two actors ("sisters") in England, who invite audience participants in Providence, RI to "step onto the blue mat" and enter their world, so to speak (or either remain in the "darkness" of the audience). This performance brings many interesting concepts into view; including the idea of interacting with others that are in our personal space in relation to a virtual environment (that we are composited onto), and also the question of how we can interact with others virtually when they also are composited onto this same space. It also explores ideas of participation versus observation, in that the "sisters" invite you into "their world" to interact and improvise based on the changing backgrounds. In a sense, neither set of participants is in a "real environment" (only a blue screen); they experience real and virtual interactions with participants all while having to observe their background or "world" on a screen. How does this change their interactions with the environment and their ability to interact with participants (physically versus virtually)? Overall, this performance provides an intriguing example of how interaction and collaboration can be changed by a virtual environment.