Category Archives: Posthuman

The Practical – The Lincoln Red Poppy Run

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It was not until a few weeks ago that I came across an idea for recreating a performance which resonates with some of the discussions we have been having on the module.   I knew I wanted to address some of the ideas that came up in our lesson with Daniel Hunt, in which we talked about mediatised, digital performances, audiences existing on virtual levels and the idea of the Posthuman.

Then, in the lead up to remembrance Sunday this November, I was also looking for ways to raise money for the British Legion.  This was when I came across Vodafone’s Big Poppy Run.  “Inspired by the thought of wounded soldiers like himself and those who never made it home, young former Royal Marine Ben McBean ran 31 miles across London in the shape of a huge poppy, guided by a smartphone on the Vodafone network” (The Royal British Legion, 2014).

So, in response to what McBean carried out in London, I have begun to do the same in Lincoln.  Today I have finished running the parameter of my poppy around Lincoln town centre, colouring in the streets on the map as I go.

Red poppy run start

Between now and the show back to my peers on December 2nd  (This date changed – the performance will now take place January 20th) I intend to run every street left inside the poppy parameter above. You me be wondering where exactly this ties together with the theoretical work we have been studying.

My main intention for this performance is to examine the layers of performance which exist for what I am calling The Lincoln Red Poppy Run.  I define performance in this context as any point where someone is a spectator to someone contributing to this project.  So for example so far I have established the following layers of performance:

The Immediate – Those in studio x who will be watching both me presenting the performance, and to the volunteer who will be running the last stretch of the poppy (visible from the window).

The Virtual – For the purposes of the demonstration, my volunteer will be linked up to us in the studio via Skype so that we have direct, digital contact with him.  Also as he runs, we will be able to follow his progress, meaning we can complete the poppy image.

The Unknowing – Those “audience members” out in the street who will be passing the runner, unaware of the fact they are part of a performance.

The Performer Himself – He will be able to see us in the studio via the Skype uplink, so he will be the spectator to us observing him.

So far it is these different aspects that I am exploring to establish how a performance can have multiple layers (with mediatised assistance).  This was an idea that has developed from our class work on the Lincoln Noir project which you can read about on a previous blog post.

This project is also inspired by the works of Blast Theory, and in particular their project Can You See Me Now? This involved a game of tag to be played online and in real life simultaneously.  One team play at a computer, whilst the second team take to the streets; “tracked by satellites, Blast Theory’s runners appear online next to your player on a map of the city. On the streets, handheld computers showing the positions of online players guide the runners in tracking you down” (Adams, 2001).  The game allows up to a hundred people to play the game, this extending the layers of performance, from just the physical and digital, to also include the social world as players are encouraged to co-ordinate and share tactics.  The game creates a hybrid canvas for performance in which those involved can explore both realms of possibility.  It is this overlapping which Blast Theory feels is at the core of what they achieved with Can You See Me Now?  “In what ways can we talk about intimacy in the electronic realm? . . . Against this backdrop can we establish a more subtle understanding of the nuances of online relationships” (Adams, 2001).  Entering into the Posthuman age, when the greater amount of the average person’s social interaction is conducted over the internet, Can You See Me Now? explores this field. It brings players and runners into the same virtual space from all around the globe and introduces physical social interaction into the virtual world.

 

Works Cited

Adams, Matt (2001) Can You See Me Now?, Blast Theory [online] Available at: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/can-you-see-me-now, Accessed [21/11/2014].

The Royal British Legion (2014) ‘The Big Poppy Run – Vodafone Firsts’, BritishLegion.org [online] Available at: http://www.britishlegion.org.uk/about-us/calendar-of-events/fundraising/the-big-poppy-run-vodafone-firsts, Accessed [21/11/2014].

Vodaphone Firsts (2014) ‘The trailer – Ben McBean’s #First Big Poppy Run PR’, YouTube [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ro40EU0I0L8#t=13, Accessed [21/11/2014].

Lincoln Noir

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In an attempt to practise our study of the Posthuman synthesis of reality and digital reality we have begun the project Lincoln Noir.  We were inspired by the performance art group Blast Theory, in particular their project Can You See Me Now? (2001).  This project combined the real world, the virtual on-line world through the use of a video game and the digital world through the use of GPS tracking devices:

 Can You See Me Now? takes the fabric of the city and makes our location within it central to the game play. The physical city is overlaid with a virtual city to explore ideas of absence and presence. By sharing the same ‘space’, the players online and runners on the street enter into a relationship that is adversarial, playful and, ultimately, filled with pathos.

( http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/can-you-see-me-now )

This performance exists on three layers of reality.  We sought out to do the same with Lincoln Noir.  For this performance we have the city of Lincoln as our stage.  The performers, armed with smartphones examine the city assuming the role of a film noir style detective, tweeting any suspicious photos, statements or observations made using the hashtag #lincolnnoir.  These tweets are watched as a continuous, refreshing feed back in an internal location, such as a studio by the audience.  You may notice that on the right hand side of this blog’s homepage is that very same Twitter feed, allowing you to see the performance over the internet  (For some versions of WordPress this twitter feed appears on the LEFT side of your screen, at the very BOTTOM & may require you to click “find tweets” to view).  With this performance we create something that also exists on three layers of reality.  The material reality (Lincoln, as seen by those role-playing detectives), The digital reality (Those able to follow the feed over the internet) and the virtual reality (Those situated inside the audience room).  The performance itself has no end, and has no limit as to who can join in at least one of the realities on which the performance is conveyed, anyone can tweet with the hashtag and follow the posts on-line.  This is a Posthuman experience.

Posthuman

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This week we looked at the notion of Posthuman and its performance attributes.  This is the coming together of man and machine, a synthesis of what we recognise as reality and as virtual reality.  It is “the emergent relationship between the human and the machine as creating a hybrid subjectivity that is continuously moving between the material realm of bodily agency and the informational realm of digitality” (Klich, 2011, p. 189).  The Posthuman perspective relies heavily on technology, however it should be seen as a denial of humanity, more as an evolution of humanity.  Technology is not a new phenomenon that has come about with the discovery of the internet and nanotechnology, so in no means should the Posthuman view be considered solely a current issue.  When the wheel was discovered man utilised that technology to its potential.  Our relationship to technology evolves.

We have reached a point now perhaps where Posthuman is becoming more obvious with the first steps towards biotic advances: men becoming cyborgs, part human, part machine.

What can be seen here is a synthetic arm being controlled by a human mind.  It is an enhancement of technology just like the wheel was.  A weakness in our bio-chemical composition was identified and through research a solution has been found.  You may ask what this has to do with art?

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Performance artist Stelarc, whose works often examine the use of robotics, attached hooks to his flesh and suspended himself in the air in a series of performances since the 1970s.  His performances ranged from suspension inside a studio to being hung between two skyscrapers.  Here Stelarc displays the body as both object and subject, observing the materiality of the body.  It was to explore the limits of the flesh using machines to attach the hooks directly onto it.

Stelarc Ear

Similarly, Stelarc later developed an ear in a laboratory, which he then had surgically attached to his forearm.  This ear was to be fitted with microphone and Bluetooth technology so that, through digital means, it was able to function as a third ear.  The argument here to those who state it as “offensive and distressing” (BBC, 2007) is that it serves as an extension of living.  In theory it is no different from having access to information around the world from the Smartphone in your pocket or a GPS system in your car connecting you to a satellite in space.

Therefore if all art, time being irrelevant, is to be taken as a reflection of its context, and as we have established technology is not a modern issue, then performances that exercise the ever dynamic relationship between research and the human should not be scrutinised, regardless of how radical they may initially seem.  “The Posthuman exits simultaneously as both body (material entity) and digital information” (Klich, 2011, p. 192), our dependence on social media, our alternate aliases we live out in virtual realities make us all Posthuman beings.

 

Works Cited:

BBC Health (2007) Performer Gets Third Ear for Art [online] Available at  <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7039821.stm > Accessed [08/10/2014]

Klich, Rosemary (2011) Multimedia Performance, London: Macmillan.  pp. 178-203