Digitally Live: Performative Presence in Times of Covid-19

Ioana B. Jucan

Abstract


This essay unpacks Jon McKenzie’s provocative statement that “all performance is electronic” in light of the shifts expedited by the COVID-19 pandemic and with a focus on the transformations of performative presence both as regards the performance of everyday life online and artistic performance. It asks: What does presence mean in what McKenzie called “the age of global performance”, which is also the age of “post-truth” and Big Data? What does presence mean in the context of “Zoom fatigue”? What does liveness mean online, and does performing live online matter? To address these questions, the first part of this essay provides an analysis of the “digital limen” (McKenzie) in times of COVID-19. The second part turns to theatre performance across the “digital limen,” specifically to Left and Right, Or Being who/where you are (2021), an experimental live online performance that I co-created and directed.

Full Text:

PDF

References


*60 Minutes. 2021. “Facebook Whistleblower Frances Haugen: The 60 Minutes Interview.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Lx5VmAdZSI.

Auslander, Philip. 2012. “Digital Liveness: A Historico-Philosophical Perspective.” Performing Arts Journal 102: 3-11.

Austin, J.L. 1975. How to Do Things With Words, Second Edition. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press.

Bailenson, Jeremy. 2021. “Nonverbal Overload: A Theoretical Argument for the Causes of Zoom Fatigue.” Technology, Mind, and Behavior 2 (1). https://tmb.apaopen.org/pub/nonverbal-overload/release/2.

Bergstrom, Kate. 2021. “Beyond Wandering: Critical Engagement in a World-Widening Web.” HowlRound, 11 January. https://howlround.com/beyond-wandering.

Chapman, Owen and Kim Sawchuk. 2012. “Research-Creation: Intervention, Analysis and ‘Family Resemblances’.” Canadian Journal of Communication 37: 5-26.

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. 2016-a. Updating to Remain the Same: Habitual New Media. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press.

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. 2016-b. “Big Data as Drama.” ELH 83.2: 363-382.

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong. 2018. “Critical Data Studies or How to Desegregate Networks.” Institute of the Humanities and Global Cultures. Published on YouTube, July 31. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qhp80UXTvaQ.

Chun, Wendy Hui Kyong and Jorge Cotte. 2020. “Reimagining Networks: An Interview with Wendy Hui Kyong Chun.” The New Inquiry, May 12. https://thenewinquiry.com/reimagining-networks/.

Coniglio, Mark and Matthew Ragan (host Andrew Scriver). 2021. “Digital Rehearsal & Remote Performance Spaces.” LevelUp with ToasterLab, 19 January. https://www.levelup.designers.ca/drarps.

Connor, Michael. 2014. “First Look: Amalia Ulman – Excellences and Perfections.” Rhizome, October 20. https://rhizome.org/editorial/2014/oct/20/first-look-amalia-ulmanexcellences-perfections/.

Deleuze, Giles. 1992. “Postscript on the Societies of Control.” October 59: 3-7.

Derrida, Jacques. 1977 “Signature Event Context.” In Limited Inc. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.

Derrida, Jacques. 1978. Writing and Difference, translated by Alan Bass. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Devries, Melody. 2022. “Archetypes and Homophilic Avatars: New Approaches to Studying Far/Right Facebook Practice.” Canadian Journal of Communication 47 (1): 151-171.

Devries, Melody, Ioana Jucan, and Alexandra Juhasz. 2020. “Authenticity, Performativity, and Performance.” Paper circulated at the “Beyond Disinformation: Authenticity and Trust in the Online World” workshop organized by the Social Science Research Council.

de Zengotita, Thomas. 2005. Mediated: How the Media Shapes Your World and the Way You Live in It. London: Bloomsbury.

Dixon, Steve, with contributions by Barry Smith. 2007. Digital Performance: A History of New Media in Theatre, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Doane, Mary Ann. 2005. “Information, Crisis, Catastrophe.” In New Media, Old Media: A History and Theory Reader, edited by Wendy Hui Kyong Chun and Thomas Keenan. London & New York: Routledge.

Elizalde, Patrick, Andra Jurj, Marcela Mancino, Fabiola Petri, Ioana Jucan, Melody Devries. 2021. Left and Right, Or Being who/where you are (unpublished script).

Fuchs, Barbara, and Jared Mezzocchi. 2021. “Reverse-Engineering Zoom with Isadora: Site-Specific Performance for the Internet.” HowlRound, 4 January. https://howlround.com/reverse-engineering-zoom-isadora.

Garcia, Patricia. 2015. “Instagram Star Quits Social Media, Says It’s Not Real.” Vogue, November 2. https://www.vogue.com/article/instagram-star-essena-oneill-quits-social-media.

Gerlitz, Carolin and Anne Helmond. 2013. “The like Economy: Social Buttons and the Data-Intensive Web.” New Media and Society 15 (8): 1348-65.

Golbeck, Jennifer. 2013. “Your Social Media ‘Likes’ Expose More Than You Think.” TedxMidAtlantic. https://www.ted.com/talks/jennifer_golbeck_the_curly_fry_conundrum_why_social_media_likes_say_more_than_you_might_think/transcript?language=en#t-326069.

Hart, Sol P., Sedona Chinn, and Stuart Soroka. 2020. “Politicization and Polarization in COVID-19 News Coverage.” Science Communication 42(5): 679–697. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7447862/.

Hawkins, Stephen, Daniel Yudkin, Miriam Juan-Torres, and Tim Dixon. 2018. Hidden Tribes: A Study of America’s Polarized Landscape. New York: More in Common. https://hiddentribes.us/media/qfpekz4g/hidden_tribes_report.pdf

Hunt, Elle. 2015. “Essena O’Neill Quits Instagram Claiming Social Media ‘Is Not Real Life.’” The Guardian, 3 November. https://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/03/instagram-star-essena-oneill-quits-2d-life-to-reveal-true-story-behind-images.

Jucan, Ioana, Roopa Vasudevan, Anthony Glyn Burton, Tong Wu, and Yuguang Zhang. 2021. “Performing ‘Left and Right’.” Theatre Journal 73.3: E-9-E-14. https://jhuptheatre.org/theatre-journal/online-content/issue/volume-73-issue-3-september-2021/performing-left-and-right.

Klein, Jessica. 2021. “The Darkly Soothing Compulsion of ‘Doomscrolling’.” BBC, March 3. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20210226-the-darkly-soothing-compulsion-of-doomscrolling.

Koeze, Ella and Nathaniel Popper. 2020. “The Pandemic Changed the Way We Internet.” New York Times, April 7. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/07/technology/coronavirus-internet-use.html.

LaBerge, Laura, Clayton O’Toole, Jeremy Schneider, and Kate Smaje. 2020. McKinsey & Company. “How COVID-19 Has Pushed Companies Over the Technology Tipping Point – and Transformed Business Forever.” https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/strategy-and-corporate-finance/our-insights/how-covid-19-has-pushed-companies-over-the-technology-tipping-point-and-transformed-business-forever.

Langlois, Ganaele, Joanna Redden, and Greg Elmer. 2015. “Introduction: Compromised Data – From Social Media to Big Data.” In Compromised Data: From Social Media to Big Data, edited by Ganaele Langlois, Joanna Redden, and Greg Elmer. New York and London: Bloomsbury.

Langlois, Ganaele. 2021. “Faking it Until it’s Real.” In Really Fake by Alexandra Juhasz, Ganaele Langlois, and Nishant Shah. Minneapolis & London: University of Minnesota Press & Meson Press.

Maxwell, Kerry. 2010. “Buzzword: Augmented Reality.” Macmillan Dictionary. https://www.macmillandictionary.com/buzzword/entries/augmented-reality.html.

McKenzie, Jon. 2001. Perform or Else: From Discipline to Performance. London & New York: Routledge.

Mejia, Robert, Kay Beckermann, and Curtis Sullivan. 2018. “White Lies: A Racial History of the (Post)Truth.” Communication and Critical/Cultural Studies 15.2: 109-126.

Morse, Margaret. 1998. Virtualities: Television, Media Art, and Cyberculture. Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press.

Newton, Casey. 2021. “Mark in the Metaverse.” The Verge, July 22. https://www.theverge.com/22588022/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-ceo-metaverse-interview.

Oxford Languages. 2020. “2020: Words of an Unprecedented Year.” Oxford. https://pages.oup.com/ol/word-of-the-year-2020.

Resnick, Brian. 2018. “Cambridge Analytica’s ‘Psychographic Microtargeting’: What’s Bullshit and What’s Legit.” Vox, March 26. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/3/23/17152564/cambridge-analytica-psychographic-microtargeting-what.

Roose, Kevin. 2019. “The Making of a YouTube Radical.” New York Times, June 8. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/06/08/technology/youtube-radical.html.

Schneider, Rebecca and Lucia Ruprecht. 2017. “In our Hands: An Ethics of Gestural Response-ability.” Performance Philosophy 3 (1): 108-125.

Sharma, Sarah. 2014. In the Meantime: Temporality and Cultural Politics. Durham: Duke University Press.

Seneca, Christopher. 2020. “How to Break Out of Your Social Media Echo Chamber.” Wired, 17 September. https://www.wired.com/story/facebook-twitter-echo-chamber-confirmation-bias/.

Silverman, Craig. 2015. Lies, Damn Lies, and Viral Content. Tow Center for Digital Journalism. https://www.rcmediafreedom.eu/Publications/Reports/Lies-Damn-Lies-and-Viral-Content

Silverman, Craig. 2020. “The Information Apocalypse Is Already Here, And Reality Is Losing.” Buzzfeed, May 22. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/craigsilverman/coronavirus-information-apocalypse.

Stackpole, Beth. 2021. “Digital Transformation After the Pandemic.” MIT Sloan School of Management, July 27: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/digital-transformation-after-pandemic.

Varnelis, Kazys. 2010. “The Meaning of Network Culture.” Eurozine, January 14. https://www.eurozine.com/the-meaning-of-network-culture/.

Venturini, Tommaso. 2019. “From Fake to Junk News, the Data Politics of Online Virality.” In Data Politics: Worlds, Subjects, Rights, edited by Didier Bigo, Engin Isin, & Evelyn Ruppert. London: Routledge.

Vits, Thomas. 2021. “The Crucial Role of Networks and Edge Cloud for Truly Immersive XR Experiences.” AIXR, 9 July. https://aixr.org/insights/the-crucial-role-of-networks-and-edge-cloud-for-truly-immersive-xr-experiences/.

Wardle, Claire and Hossein Derakhshan. 2017. “Information Disorder: Toward an Interdisciplinary Framework For Research and Policy Making.” Strasbourg, France: The Council of Europe. https://rm.coe.int/information-disorder-report-version-august-2018/16808c9c77.

Weber, Samuel. 2004. Theatricality as Medium. New York: Fordham University Press.

Wilkinson, Alissa. 2020. “No One Can Opt Out of This Pandemic. And That Will Change Us Forever.” Vox, April 13. https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/4/13/21213820/coronavirus-reality-tom-de-zengotita-mediated-theory-philosophy-interview.

Willis, Emma, Chris Hay, and Nien Yuan Cheng. 2019. “Call for Papers: Performance Paradigm 17 (2022).” Performance Paradigm. https://www.performanceparadigm.net/index.php/journal/announcement.


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.