Page 52 - AC/E Digital Culture Annual Report 2016

52OvertureFrom empty spaces... to virtual corridors‘Changing the answer is evolution. Changing the question is revolution.’ Jorge WagensbergI’m freaky and geeky in many ways – to the point of describing myself with those words. But above all because I’m a fervent reader of the aphorisms of Jorge Wagensberg,1 especially the one I’ve chosen to head this article. Because I want to propose we take a look at some ofthe digital experiences that are changing the performing arts and live shows. But also because I’m keen to share with readers some of the many signi cant questions on how this change is taking place. Will you join me?It was Peter Brook2 who opened our eyes to the importance of the empty space in the performing arts at the height of the twentieth century: ‘I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.’3 How is this statement relevant when digital and virtual are part of the same stage dimension? Where do creative spaces begin and end when the physical dimension and the virtual dimension are constantly merged?In the age of co-creation, the dispersion of authorship in the performing arts coexists alongside the pre-eminence of reference author and in uencer, as well as that of prosumer audience.The fact is that in our ‘liquid modern world’ even Zygmunt Bauman4 preaches that culture ‘no longer has a “populace” to enlighten and noble; it does, however, have clients to seduce’.5 And this seduction is enhanced by the spectacular e ect of culture when it comes in contact with digital. Because, although the essential part isthe conversation, as advocated by the visionary authors of the Cluetrain Manifesto6 – recently updated with New Clues7 – the new paradigmof communication, described in the Onlife Manifesto,8 is conditioned by four changes of far-reaching signi cance in social relations that undoubtedly also a ect how the performing and live arts are analysed:a) the fading of the boundaries between real and virtual;b) the disappearance of the boundaries between human being, machine and nature;c) the progression from scarcity to information overload;d) and the transition from the primacy of things to the primacy of interactions.Act IFrom ‘to be or not to be’... to‘to co-create or not to co-create’In the age of co-creation, the dispersion of authorship in the performing arts coexists alongside the pre-eminence of referenceauthor and in uencer, as well as that of prosumer audience... Who – or even what – is the creator now? Should we talk of egos,teams, machines, hybrid formulas? To what extent is the multiplicity of communicationand dissemination channels conditioning the transmedia conceptualisation of shows? Do these circumstances signify the advent ofnew types of storytelling and playwriting? Will Creative Commons9 attain a hegemonic status in protecting/sharing creative work?• If we consider new forms of authorship, issues such as the materiality of the human body are triggering the emergence of cases like musician Guy Ben-Ary and his project entitled CellF,10 ‘the rst neural synthesiser’, which enables him to compose with his own stem cells.HOW THE PERFORMING ARTS ARE CHANGING IN THE DIGITAL AGE · PEPE ZAPATASmart Culture: Impact of the Internet on Artistic Creation