Performing Presence: From the Live to the Simulated
The Presence Project
A research project managed by
Gabriella Giannachi (Exeter UK) | Nick Kaye (Exeter UK) | Mel Slater (University College London) | Michael Shanks (Stanford USA)
The Presence Project will be running from October 2005 to June 2009
What creates a sense of presence?
- the presence of a live performer ... the presence of the past ... in a memory ... in ruined remains ... the sense of 'being there' in an online community ... in a VR or mixed reality environment ...
The Presence Project is exploring such questions with Lynn Hershman Leeson | Gary Hill | Tony Oursler | Blast Theory | The Builders Association | Ken Goldberg | Paul Sermon
We are also fully documenting a series of performance-research workshops, led by Tim Etchells | Bella Merlin | Vayu Naidu | Mike Pearson and Mike Brookes | Fiona Templeton | Phillip Zarrilli
In 2007 and 2008 The Presence Project will be conducting two exercises at UCL's CAVE, the first of which is now complete.
The Presence Project, through the Metamedia Lab in Stanford Archaeology Center, affiliated with Stanford Humanities Lab, is currently creating Life to the Second Power, an encounter with the archive of Lynn Hershman Leeson in the online world Second Life. Follow the development of this collaborative project at [link] and (blog) [link].
news flash
Ken Goldberg Interview
Follow this link for the Presence Project's major interview with Ken Goldberg
Ken Goldberg, Ouija 2000. Courtesy of the artist.
Ken Goldberg is an artist, writer, inventor, and researcher in the field of robotics, telepresence and automation.
Since 1995, he has been Professor of Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, with a joint appointment in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley. Goldberg co-founded the IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering and his work has resulted in six United States patents. He is credited with developing the first robot with web interface (August 1994). Ken Goldberg is currently Director of the Berkeley Centre for New Media [link].
Research groups and key pages
Presence
Documentation
ABC of Presence
CAVE
Presence Project Bibliography
Life to the Second Power
Project Outline
User's guide
News
Presence Project output
print publications
Adams, M., Benford, S. and Giannachi, G. (2008) 'Pervasive Presence: Blast Theory's Day of The Figurines,' Contemporary Theatre Review 18:2 (May).
Giannachi, G. and Kaye, N. (2007) 'Presence', Performance Research 11:3 Lexicon, pp101-3. Issue to be exhibited at Documenta 12, Kassel, June-September.
Kaye, N. (2008) 'Video Presence: Tony Oursler's Media Entities,' PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 30:1, pp15-30.
Kaye, N. (2007) 'Screening Presence: The Builders Association and dbox, SUPER VISION (2005)', Contemporary Theatre Review 17:4, pp555-575.
Kuhn, S. (2006), ‘Extended presence: The instrumental(ised) body in André Werner’s Marlowe: The Jew of Malta’, International Journal of Performance
Arts and Digital Media 2: 3, pp. 221–236,
project-related publications
Giannachi, G. (2007) The Politics of New Media Theatre, London & New York: Routledge.
Kaye, N. (2007) Multi-Media: video - installation - performance, London & New York: Routledge
events
(2007) Lynn Hershman Leeson, Autonomous Agents: A Real + Second Life Symposium, a collaboration between The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester and The Presence Project, coinciding with the major retrospective exhibition Autonomous Agents: The Art and Films of Lynn Hershman Leeson, 24 November. [link]
papers
Matt Adams (Blast Theory and IPerG) and Gabriella Giannachi (2007) Between the Public: Blast Theory’s Day of the Figurines, keynote conference presentation, Paradoxes of the Public, Duisburger Akzente, Diusberg, Germany, 24-5 May.
Laura Cull (2008) What is it to play a character in a Goat Island piece?' Re-thinking the presence/representation paradigm with Deleuze, invited paper, Goat Island Symposium, Practice Reflected at the Nuffield Theatre in association with Dance4, Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster, 29th-2nd March 2008
Laura Cull (2007) Presence as perpetual variation: Deleuze on the 'minor theatre' of Carmelo Bene, panel paper, PSi 13, New York University, November.
Gabriella Giannachi (2007) Documenting Performing Presence, Experts Workshop, Online Archives of Media Art – Contextualisation, Metadata, Translation, Ludwig Boltzmann Institute, re:placed 2007, Berlin, 15 November.
Gabriella Giannachi (2007), Chair + A Conversation with Lynn Hershman Leeson, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Autonomous Agents - A Real + Second Life Symposium, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 24 November.
Nick Kaye (2006) Screening Presence, invitation lecture and public dialogue with Marianne Weems, Martin E. Segal Theatre Center, City University of New York, 23 October.
Nick Kaye (2007) Video Presence: Tony Oursler, Gary Hill, invitation lecture, UC Berkeley, 9 October.
Nick Kaye (2007) Architectures of Presence, paper, Continuous Bodies: Performance, Space, and Technology Symposium, UC Berkeley, 12 October.
Nick Kaye (2007) Presence and Praxis, paper, QUORUM Research Seminar, Queen Mary College, University of London, 31 October.
Nick Kaye (2007) Time and Presence: Nam June Paik, Tony Oursler, Gary Hill, paper, PSi 13, New York University, 10 November.
Nick Kaye (2007) Virtual Performance in a Real World, paper, Research Seminar Series, Central School of Speech and Drama, London, 20 November.
Nick Kaye (2007) Re-placing sites: location, performance and signs of presence in Lynn Hershman’s installation/performances, paper, Lynn Hershman Leeson: Autonomous Agents - A Real + Second Life Symposium, The Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 24 November.
reviews
Gabriella Giannachi reviews Day of the Figurines http://www.realtimearts.net/article/issue80/8623
Gabriella Giannachi reviews Rider Spoke http://www.realtimearts.net/article/83/8880
Forum
Simon Jones, Imag(in)ing the Void: Or Hiding in Plain View: Thoughts After Bodies in Flight & Angel Tech's WHO BY FIRE | Mike Brookes, ‘10 thoughts (notes on the construction of a document)’ | Laura Cull and Matthew Goulish, 'A Dialogue on Becoming' | Rajinder Dudrah, 'Diasporic Bollywood Cinema Going as South Asian Presence' | Peter Hulton, 'For Eugenio (Barba): On Archive' | Sita Popat, Presence in Projecting Performance | Robert Wechsler 'Palindrome IMPG Nürnberg, Germany'
We welcome contributions on presence and responses to The Presence Project. Please follow this link to the Presence Forum for more details.
Related Projects and Events
- Performing the Archive: the future of the past, a three year collaboration between Bristol University Drama, Exeter University Drama, and Arnolfini, Bristol, exploring the re-animation of the Live Art Archives, the UK's leading archival resource on live and performance art.
- The Politics of Presence - the colloquium, Stanford Humanities Centre, 23, 24, 25 May 2007.
Links and Resources
Contributors to the Collaboratory
References
Acknowledgements
Performing Presence is supported by
The AHRC funds postgraduate training and research in the arts and humanities, from archaeology and English literature to design and dance. The quality and range of research supported not only provides social and cultural benefits but also contributes to the economic success of the UK.
