04_Eli_Sands

Temporary Public
My research has focused on new medias use in
environmental theatre/performance and its effect on
audience awareness of space and landscape narratives.
The creation of new media has developed new societal
and environmental narratives that can be explored
through the use of performance and theatrical devices
such as breaking the fourth wall0. This research is set
to develop a case study catalogue of performances that
explore landscape and new media narratives and
examine if new techniques in contemporary video
projection are also redefining public space and
exposing new narratives.
The content of this presentation is focused on the
specific archival case study of para-site by D+S
studio. This work was installed at the New York
Museum of Modern Art in 1987. D+S used camera
and surveillance technology to investigate,
surveillance culture and visual narratives by
activating the public as performer and blurring the
roles of actor/observer with technology interfaces.
The argument I am trying to make is that by using
new media devices D+S was able to activate new
and unseen landscape narratives and redefine what
public spaces are.
Public Spaces1
Landscape Narratives
From Goldberg’s essay on Space as Praxis a
classification of space types is created for
performance.
spectator space
private and public space
para-site
In 1987 Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio had a
video installation at MOMA for part of the projects
presentation. This video installation examined the act
of voyeurism and visual culture that in inherent within
the environment of the museum by activating
overlapping actor observer relationship between the
visitors, cameras, and monitors.
Designers and artists working in landscape conditions
are tapping into embedded narratives3.
Landscape narratives are subject to the designer/artist
in the construction of open and closed narratives.
Open narratives allow for public authorship of the
contextual narratives.
Actor
Open Narratives
Observer
Closed Narratives
Audience Activation2
Audience activation has gradations ranging form inactive to participatory storytellers.
A
A
B
B
A = authentic participation
E = active viewing
C
C
D
D
EE
FF
GG
H
H
B = legitimate participation C = invited participation
D = token participation
F = symbolized participation G = controlled verbal reaction H = non-participation
Image of para-site at MOMA. Actors and Observers are highlighted with symbols revealing the complex
actor/observer relationships in the space.
Blocking and Staging Diagrams20
Examinations of the archive materials provides a series of chronological movements that reveal how
technology is used to activate to public awareness at the Museum
Hand drawn renderings
Blank Stage
Hand drawn renderings
Actors Enter Space
Fires visitors enter the space and are
recorded by the cameras above the doors.
Recorded visitors are displayed to an
empty gallery space.
Monitors w/ Live Feed
Museum Lobby
GalleryChair
Space
Museum Lobby
O
Gallery Space
A
Video Cameras O
A
A
Revolving Door Entrance
Actors Turn Observers
More visitors enter the museum. Cameras
continue to act as observers
Museum Lobby
A
Returning to the Stage
First visitors enter gallery. Recognize the video
screens and become aware of their process as
museum goers.
O
O
Gallery
Space
O
Leaving visitors are actors for the cameras again. This time
with the awareness of being filmed mixing with the new
actors. The lobby transitions to public-private to a
spectator space.
2
A
A
O
Gallery Space
2
A
A
O
Museum Lobby
O
The next cycle of actors turned observers
enters the gallery watching the previous
visitors becoming actors again.
O
O
Narrative Landscapes21
This is the paragraph where I talk about landscape narratives and how they are revealed in by new
media and how by creating a blended spectator/public/private space. Several levels of awareness are
revealed
Story
Contextual
Discourse Fields
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Museum as ritual and cultural institution
Investigation of the Culture of vision22
Privacy
Awareness as performance
Parasite as an idea. Happenings of new media in
the landscape
Technology and society
Space and redefining the extents and boundaries
Public Performance
Feedback and awareness
Interface
Public/Private Space
Classification and Blocking
Diorama
TREE
Performance and technology have been used to activate the public since early American
Independence. The following chronology takes a sample of these performances and classifies
their use of new media coupled with blocking diagrams that clarify their use of space and audience
activations.
DATE
SHOW/ARTIST
SPACE
ACTIVATION
TECHNIQUE
1778
Vauxhall
Pleasure Gardens
Public/Private
Transparency of national events
activates larger narrative structure
1935
Landscape Theatre6
Gertruid Stein
Spectator Space
“The combination and not a
contradiction of audience and narrative”
1936
Verfremdungseffekt7
Brecht/Epic Theatre
Spectator Space
1959
18 Happenings in 6 Parks8 Public/Private
Allan Kaprow
Spectator Space
1965
Intolleranza 19609
Josef Svoboda
1966
Public/Private
City Maps10
Lawrence/Anna Halprin
A stage
TREE
TREE
TREE
TREE
Visible
Lights
Pleasure Gardens
SET 1
SET 2
Epic Theatre
Projection Elevation
SET 3
Projection
Plan
Happenings
Intolleranza 1960
Audience alienation and awareness of
being in a play
Deconstruction of theatrical forms total
immersion theatre. Audience switched
seats and assigned actors tasks.
CAM A
Video Projection of audience onto the
stage
Dancers and architects performing in
the city to reveal structural narratives
1974
Two Rooms11
Dan Graham
Spectator Space
Public observing themselves and
performance concurrently
1983
Modern Projections12
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Public/Private
Public projections on urban
architecture
1988
You-the City13
Fiona Templeton
Public/Private
Individual performances through
urban journeys
1987
para-site14
D+S Studio
Spectator Space
Surveillance tech as defacto actor to
instigate new audience awareness
1988
Memorial Projections15
Krzysztof Wodiczko
Public/Private
Individual performances through
urban journeys
1996
Mugger Music
The Loading Deck
Public/Private
Utilizing new media to explore on the
ground urban mapping
19962003
prachtgleis17
SLEM
Public/Private
Series of pieces using a construction
site for engaging audience awareness
of transformation process
16
TREE
TREE
City Maps
Two Rooms
3:oopm
Projector
CAM B
3:02pm
3:04pm
Building
Modern Projections
Museum
Lobby
You-the City
Gallery
Projector
Monitors
Cameras
para-site
Memorial Projections
Camera
Room B
Room A
Memorial
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Building
Boundary
Park
Room B
Room A
Mugger Music
Monitor
prachtgelis
Footnotes/Bibliography
0. Stevenson, John. 1995. “The Fourth Wall and the Third Space.” Centre for
Playback Theatre.
15. Wodiczko, Krzysztof. 1999. “Projections.” In Critical Vehicles: Writings,
Projects, Interviews, 44–69. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
1.Goldberg, Roselee. “Space as Praxis.” Studio International, 1975.
16. Stanton B. Garner Jr. 2002. “Urban Landscapes, Theatrical Encounters:
Staging the City.” In Land/scape/theater, edited by Elinor Fuchs and Una
Chaudhuri, 94–118. Theater--Theory/text/performance. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press.
2. Lorek-Jezinska, Edyta. 2002. “Article No.6 Audience Activating Techniques and
Their Educational Efficacy.” Applied Theatre Researcher No. 3. http://www.griffith.edu.au/centre/cpci/atr/journal/number4_article6.htm.
4. Images and Materials Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY.
Curatorial Collection Series 1524
3.Potteiger Matthew, and Purinton Jamie. “Landscape Narratives.” In Theory in
Landscape Architecture: A Reader, edited by Simon R. Swaffield, 136–44. Penn
Studies in Landscape Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2002.
5. Stubbs, Naomi J. 2013. Cultivating National Identity through Performance:
American Pleasure Gardens and Entertainment. Palgrave Studies in Theatre and
Performance History. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
17. Doedens, Bruno, and Stichting Landschapstheater en Meer. 2009. Temporary
Landscapes = Tijdelijke Landschappen. Deventer: SLeM, Stichting Landschapstheater en Meer : Thieme Art.
18. Siapera, Eugenia. 2011. Understanding New Media. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks,
CA: Sage Publications.
19. Images and Materials Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY.
Curatorial Collection Series 1524
20. Images and Materials Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY.
Curatorial Collection Series 1524
6. Fuchs, Elinor, and Una Chaudhuri, eds. 2002. “The Composition That All the
World Can See: Gertrude Stein’s Theater Landscapes.” In Land/scape/theater,
122–44. Theater--Theory/text/performance. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan
Press.
21.Potteiger Matthew, and Purinton Jamie. “Landscape Narratives.” In Theory in
Landscape Architecture: A Reader, edited by Simon R. Swaffield, 136–44. Penn
Studies in Landscape Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania
Press, 2002.
7. Benjamin, Walter. 1998. Understanding Brecht. London; New York: Verso.
22. Artist Statement from para-site, Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art Achives,
NY. Curatorial Collection Series 1524
8. “Allan Kaprow: Art as Life.” 2008. MOCA The museum of contemporary art,
Los Angeles. http://www.moca.org/kaprow/GalleryGuide_Kaprow.pdf.
9. Příhodová, Barbora. 2010. “The Power of Images in Performance: Josef
Svoboda’s Scenography for Intolleranza 1960 at Boston Opera Company.”
Fulbright-Masaryk Scholarship.
10. Halprin, Lawrence. 1970. The RSVP Cycles; Creative Processes in the Human
Environment. New York: G. Braziller.
11. Graham, Dan. 1975. “Dan Graham: Architecture/video Projects.” Studio
International, September.
12. Wodiczko, Krzysztof. 1999. “Projections.” In Critical Vehicles: Writings,
Projects, Interviews, 44–69. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press.
13. Stanton B. Garner Jr. 2002. “Urban Landscapes, Theatrical Encounters:
Staging the City.” In Land/scape/theater, edited by Elinor Fuchs and Una
Chaudhuri, 94–118. Theater--Theory/text/performance. Ann Arbor: University of
Michigan Press.
14. Marotta, Antonello, and Christine Tilley. 2011. Diller + Scofidio: blurred
theater. Roma: Edilstampa srl.
Images Courtesy of Museum of Modern Art Archives, NY. Curatorial Collection
Series 1524