THE ART OF PERFORMANCE |
DAVE MANN
Mary Sibande, A Crescendo of Ecstasy, presented by The Mixed Reality Workshop (TMRW) Gallery
Live-stream performance:
Art and tech
E
arlier this year, I enjoyed the strange experience
a multi-channelled live-stream of the performance – a
of watching a live theatrical performance play out
series of standing mini-cameras situated throughout the
from multiple angles and perspectives just a metre
venue were being used to stream the performance to those
or two away from me, without even being seated in
tuned in online.
the audience. I was in the same venue as the performance but,
From behind the screen in that small side room, I could see striking, close-cropped frames of a single performer,
seated in a small room to the side of the performance
I could see a split-screen image of both the upper and
area, I was watching it through the screen of a laptop. The
lower levels of the performance area, and I could even see
play was Lindiwe Matshikiza’s Desert, a piece created for
the audience watching on if I chose. My favourite view
Season 3 of the Centre for the Less Good Idea, which took
was of the videographer’s own screen – a collage of neat,
place on the bottom floor as well as on a second-floor
digital blocks, each one alive with a different aspect of the
platform overlooking the audience. I was helping out with
performance happening right next to us. The only time I
72 / Creative Feel / December 2018 / January 2019
