blue blue blood is a research on intimacy in the blend of physical and digital spheres, by exploring sensibility in virtual settings, and flexibility in rigid bone structures, supported by Fonds Darstellende Künste with funds from the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media – TakeHeart.
The research is being made thinking the body blended with digital forms of performance without mimicking live practices, in an intimate conversation between the performer’s and the spectator’s body. Driven by the question of how hybrid spaces that combine works with physical and virtual elements could look like, as well as how both worlds can influence and represent each other, the vulnerability of my body towards the topics of investigation is explicit, so that others that will be physically or virtually present reflect about this sensation within themselves.
Here, I share the work in process of this research, and technical possibilities for the space. Until April 2022, I update the page daily with new pictures, explanations and prototypes.
At the moment, the idea is to create a space that seamlessly blends physical and digital in order to provide an intimate experience between audience and performer, a space where both languages coexist and the audience questions their perception of reality.
The space can be divided into six blocks, indicated by the white post its in the image above. All the concepts and intentions written here are flexible, as this is a research in process. I am always open to insights, suggestions and criticism, as well as collaborations.
When reading this plan, keep in mind that every time I say performer or persona, I mean a person that surrenders their body into becoming a creature of viscerality, someone that explores their physical and emotional limits in order to give their body to the scene. It doesn’t necessarily mean speaking, or dialoguing, or giving a monologue. It absolutely does not mean interpretation, pretending or acting. I believe that a performer doing this, in this setting, is cheating; using a code to facilitate to transmit emotions one to the audience, without accessing these sensations within themselves.
The first idea was to create an installation that would host a narrative and performance.
After around six weeks of research, I realized it’s way too many technological resources to be used in one installation. In my opinion, this brings the risk of the work becoming either a tech show, where the “wow factor” of digital means overlap the performance, or a “playground space” where the audience is mesmerized by the effects, not really relating to the narrative or the experience itself. That said, I will keep the previous ideas for each block of the work, but will add a “clean” version of them, to try to keep the intention of the blend between languages but not loose focus of the narrative or performativity as well. By clean, I mean keeping only the essence, the reason for using these digital means, which is transmitting sensorially the sensation of unity between audience, space and performer.
Later, after eight weeks of research, I realized the structure should be changed again for a more performative-friendly version. I am still interested in the previous two, but I believe less is more when the space is supposed to host radical performances. The most recent version is called even cleaner version.
You can see all versions below. I suggest that the reading begins on the complex one, and then goes to the clean one. You can also go directly to the even cleaner version, for a shorter reading time, as it contains parts of both previous version reports.
As part of the research, a workshop on empathy and emotions in kinesthetic experiences was given. The workshop related movement techniques, specially of expanded bodies with use of plastic materials, to the experience of the audience of actively watching them. It was created after exploring with my own body fluid movements such as octopuses movements, and relating them to plastic materials. The movement dramaturgy, narrative and workshop can be seen below. At the moment, the page is password protected and accessible only by Fonds Darstellende Künste as reference of the research report. Once the project is produced, this page will be available for all.
————— COMPLEX VERSION ——————————– CLEAN VERSION —————————— EVEN CLEANER VERSION
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