Vibrations in the Air: Performance and Interactive Technics
Andrew Murphie
Something in the world forces us to think. This something is an object, not of recognition, but of a fundamental encounter. (Deleuze, 1994: 139)
The fetishised ‘new’ in ‘new technologies’ is perhaps their least interesting aspect when considering their interactive and ethical potential. The fetishisation of the ‘newness’ of new technologies, in itself, probably has more to do with transcendent teleology than immanent becoming or interaction. This article recounts the work of artists John Cage, Joseph Beuys, Joyce Hinterding, Marina Abramovic and Ulay, most of which pre-dates the current period of interactive technics, in order to assess more positively the possible levels and nature of interactivity in performance using technology. The technologies used in such work are sometimes new, sometimes old, sometimes startling and sometimes banal. What is always new, however, is the way in which plan(e)s of a high degree of interactivity and consistency are created.
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