SAR Conference

 

Social d[ist]ancing: Developing a networked artistic practice out of confinement

Out of the struggle of dancers and performers in general to pursue artistic col-laboration amidst social distancing restrictions, a particular kind of network artistic practice seems to be nevertheless flourishing; one that relies on webcamsas windows into a shared collaborative space. As part of the ongoing artistic research project Social d[ist]ancing, participants are encouraged to create choreomusical works that delve into the idiosyncrasy of the webcam language, using only freely available tools for networked collaboration. Beyond exploring the aesthetics of this particular medium, the presented case studies also reveal a transformative process that requires artists to re-examine the fundamental con-ditions for group creativity and artistic collaboration. 

The social distancing measures in place since 2020 has led to a considerable amount of artistic projects being cancelled or postponed. Paradoxically, out of the struggle that results from the restrictions in movement, a particular kind of networked artistic practice is flourishing; one that relies on webcams as windows into a shared virtual collaborative space. An ever-expanding list of online tools are been constantly re-purposed by performers, dancers and musicians to enable quick and productive collaboration over the internet, regardless of their physicallocation.As part of an ongoing artistic research project at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna, Prof. Hanne Pilgrim and researcher Adrián Artacho work together with study participants to create choreomusical works that delve into the idiosyncrasy of the webcam language. Not only does this approach explore the aesthetics of this particular medium, it is also a transformative process that requires artists to re-examine the fundamental conditions for group creativity and artistic collaboration. Over the course of six small case studies, the participants produced a series of choreomusical works which explore different approaches towards networkedartistic collaboration in the context of music and dance. Transposition acrossmedia is executed in the raster of Laban’s Motion Factors –Time, Space Effort/Weight and Flow–, which also serves as a springboard for cross-media artistic experimentation. Using freely available online tools as an initial restriction, over the course of the project additional tools for technology-mediated performance were also developed, which will be publicly presented for the first time in the SAR 2021 conference. During this brief presentation, the researchers will introduce the strategies and insights yielded by the research project and discuss potential pitfalls and successful strategies that can inform creative collaboration for other artists in akin translocal configurations.