Connections

In thinking about ideas for Internet2 collaborations/projects, my thoughts have turned to the perspective of the audience or spectator. In artistic collaborations, for example, in many (but certainly not all) cases the focus is on a collaboration/interaction between two or more artists. I would like to consider a project thinking more from the point of view of the viewer or audience. Internet2 connections are a great way to explore the idea of context (i.e. where and how art is viewed and its effects on perception). What, for example, makes watching a dance performance via an I2 connection more unique than say, watching it on television? Though television itself is becoming more participatory as we move more and more toward "reality" TV (as Dr. Gilbert has discussed, so as not to lose people to the Internet the television is becoming more and more like it), the difference is the idea or potential for participation. This is one way in which this medium can be further examined from this perspective. For example, "viewers" take pictures that are then projected in different locations/venues (thus exploring the idea of context). This idea of "everyone as an artist" may relate to John Dewey's ideas of art as experience (that there is a current separation of the two). As Lawrence Halprin discusses in RSVP cycles, we all long for "involvement in processes," and making the process visible allows us to do that (perhaps that is the nature of I2 connections). Overall, looking at the point of view of not only the "doers" but viewers/consumers is another way that these connections can be explored.