The audience draws imaginary walls using a multi-touch surface (iPad). These walls become real within the stage of a blind-folded performer who is in another room. The performance results from her body's interaction with these imaginary walls.
Full Description
The artist creates a microcosm bound by the imagination of the audience and the performer. The audience draws imaginary walls that exist only within the digital realm, they become visible to the audience but not the performer. The performer is blind folded and she hears a recitation of Rigveda through wireless headphones. When her body intersects with the imaginary walls drawn by the audience, she hears a loud, shrill noise, forcing her to stop her performance and move herself away from the imaginary wall. She is never told about the audience, but is instructed to "follow the voice, and avoid the noise". Her impulsive decisions to avoid the noise hinder her creative performance. The audience thus become forces that affect her creative decisions, in that they draw walls around her creative freedom. The walls although imaginary, become real within the performance.
Work metadata
- Year Created: 2013
- Submitted to ArtBase: Thursday Nov 21st, 2013
- Original Url: http://ganeshnrao.com/mazeofgiants
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Work Credits:
- Ganesh Rao, primary creator
- Jessica Bell, Performer
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Artist Statement
We live in a world of walls, some are drawn by societies and others by ourselves. Some walls are physical and we may not be able to walk through them, but some walls are purely imaginary, and they exist only because of our personal fears. Can we break these imaginary walls? During ancient Vedic periods, poets personified such forces that seemed beyond human control, and praised them in their poems with the hope to persuade these imaginary forces. How do we address this in our digital culture?
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