2/29/2024 0 Comments Virtual reality definition oxford![]() The first term, “digital,” references a mode of performance, given the frequently used opposition between digital performance and live performance the major concern embedded in this assumed opposition is whether performers and spectators are present in the same time and space or not. ![]() 3 So versatile and mobile is the semantic range of liveness that it is probably wiser to approach the notion by exploring what set of concepts “liveness” is often artificially pitted against: in various disciplines of music, performance, and media studies, “digital,” “mediatized,” “recorded,” “secondhand,” “rehearsed,” and “inauthentic” tend to be brought into the paradigm. Liveness and its etymological relatives, such as “live,” “alive,” and “life,” are agile concepts often used interchangeably with diverse conceptual paradigms referencing the mode of performance, media platform, processes of production and consumption, value judgment system, and even deep existential inquiry. 2 Co-presence here is not simply a matter of being in the same time and space more crucially, it is a matter of the shifting conditions of social interactions brought about by the changes in media and technology. If we were to paraphrase the Oxford English Dictionary definition through the lens of theater critic Eric Bentley’s formulaic delineation of performance-“A impersonates B while C looks on”-then whether A/B’s temporal and spatial presence should coincide with C becomes the central issue at stake in the debate on liveness. On a more profound level, the derivative semantics of liveness, such as “live,” “alive,” and “life,” point to the ontological dimension of the term as they collectively articulate the “ephemerality, mediation, reproduction, and representation” (Daniel Sack, After Live, 13) of human life.Īccording to the Oxford English Dictionary, “liveness” is defined as “a performance, heard or watched at the time of its occurrence, as distinguished from one recorded on film, tape, etc.” 1 This description points to the co-presence of spectators and performers as the defining condition for liveness to emerge. There are no limitations to the performance genres and platforms that fall under the critical analysis of liveness: music, TV, stage plays, online media, live-action roleplay (LARP), and mixed-reality performance-“mixing of the real and virtual as well as their combination of live performance and interactivity” (Steve Benford and Gabriella Giannachi, Performing Mixed Reality, 1)-all wrestle with the ontological questions of what is live. Liveness is no longer defined simply as “bodily co-presence of actors and spectators” (Erika Fischer-Lichte), but with historical specificity in mind and with an eye to the way “the idea of what counts culturally as live experience changes over time in relation to technological change” (Philip Auslander, “Digital Liveness: A Historic-Philosophical Perspective,” PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art 34, no. As the medium of performance became more diversified and convergent over time, the notion of liveness accordingly became complicated. Interdisciplinary studies of liveness tend to inquire into three areas: ideology, technology, and ontology of performance, which are by no means fixed terrains but rather overlapping and corroborating regimes reflecting the transforming notions of liveness. At the same time, immediacy, temporality, and authenticity of human contact as well as human-to-nonhuman contact have also been interrogated under the rubric of liveness. Defined from a wide range of perspectives throughout history under specific sociocultural circumstances, the idea has brought critical scrutiny to the related questions of presence, disappearance, absence, and recurrence of the performing subject. Not only does the concept navigate through multiple academic disciplines, but it also calls attention to the constantly morphing conditions of social interaction and community formation in an ever-digitizing world. “Liveness” is a crucial concept that traverses the boundaries of many academic disciplines however, most prominently, performance studies, media studies, and music studies have been engaged in the ongoing debate regarding its shifting parameters.
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