October 19, 2005

Interactive Performances With Wireless Input

I've always been intrigued by how audiences might contribute to or participate in dance performances by using different types of wireless communication devices.

There was a performance last year called Texterritory v.2.3 in England that enabled audience members to use a wireless device in order to direct and inspire the dance performance. In a nutshell, the audience used mobile phones to vote on which outfit the dancer, Grace, should wear for a blind date. Plus, audience members sent short text messages, which were projected on a screen and inspired an improvisational dance piece. On the Texterritory site, you'll find a video clip highlight of the performance.

This is the only dance performance I've come across that leverages wireless devices to encourage real-time participation.

But I did come across today, on the network_performance site, a multimedia public performance program called SimpleTEXT that outputs sounds and images based upon real-time feedback from audience members using cell phones and handheld devices.

Here's how the creators of SimpleTEXT describe their mission:

SimpleTEXT focuses on mobile devices and the web as a bridge between networked interfaces and public space. As mobile devices become more prolific, they also become separated by increased emphasis on individual use. The SimpleTEXT project looks beyond the screen and isolated usage of mobile devices to encourage collaborative use of input devices to both drive the visuals and audio output, inform each participant of each other's interaction, and allows people to actively participate in the performance while it happens. Our purpose with the performance is to create the possibility of large-scale interaction through anonymous collaboration, with immediate audio and visual feedback. SimpleTEXT encourages users to respond to one another's ideas and build upon the unexpected chains of ideas that may develop from their input.

It would be interesting to see how this type of collaborative participation application could be used by dance companies to create audience-directed performances.

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