Hi Johannes and Suzon and Everyone, In answer to Johannes' question. - As you know Azure and I are relatively isolated in Providence, and Zoom has been a lifeline of sorts. It feels natural to me, once it's been relegated to 'tacit knowledge' through practice. I run a class reunion for my highschool class (1960!) on Zoom every six weeks - I've been doing this for about 3 years now - and it's fairly transparent; about 8-15 people attend each time. Some of the participants were strangers to me; in any case after the initial issues of people getting on who were unfamiliar with Zoom, the discussion was open and comfortable. My music group ZADL records through Zoom - there's a lot of humor involved in setting-up, because we have to find workarounds for the audio - but again it feels comfortable. What doesn't feel comfortable and debilitating is the lack of community in Providence itself; I feel like a pariah here. Zoom is obviously intentional; local community may be fundamentally informal, a skein of connectivities that relates to the Commons.
To Johannes' question - in some ways performing together is enhanced because of an equality of attention and intimacy; when the four of us are together, the intimacy is paramount. There are always problems of timing (it has to be somewhat exact because there are four of us, and we're always locally recording, or recording from Zoom - there are slight delays), but we've found ways to overcome those as well. Zoom is odd in that it is always face-to-face; our local Providence Ward representative holds Zoom meetings monthly - about 40+ people show up; we face them; we all face each other. We can turn camera or mic or both off if we need privacy, and that creates a strange kind of music of its own? But the meetings have been surprisingly effective. (The same holds, I think, for Deena's online monthly Salons, Kirill's discussion groups, etc.) In all of these, people are given space and time; if I'm holding a meeting and someone is having difficulty, I can speak with them privately, phone them if the problems are technical, etc. So there are various modes. The hardest part, for me, is when the Zoom ends, and there's this sudden silence and sense of isolation - we realize here, at that point, how isolated we really are. Azure keeps in touch with her aunt in Utah on a daily basis with Zoom or phone, and that continuity helps a great deal; for me, with meetings once a month, I can feel "swallowed" by that emptiness. For what it's worth, Kirill Azernyy, now in Haifa, and I speak weekly, and those discussions have been quite fruitful. But all these electronics, protocols... Best, Alan, thank you all and thank you Netbehaviour and Furtherfield as well - On Thu, Jun 1, 2023 at 5:34 AM Johannes Birringer via NetBehaviour < netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: > - thanks for your reply Suzon, > and good luck at the Prague Quadrennial, let us know how "Assemble" went > and what impressions you gained there. > I almost would've gone there too, as I had submitted my book "Kinetic > Atmospheres" to their design book exhibition. But as with Paris / ISEA, I > think > it's sometimes good to stay near the river in my valley. > > As to atmospheres of black screens (when you only hear voices) or screens > with talking heads, I had such a zoom experience you describe last Monday, > though somewhat different. > You wrote > > - Zoom breakout rooms which allowed immediate possibility for strangers > (in small numbers) to interact and have more intimacy than if they would be > in a theatre, > > - to remove the visuals for a while (black screen), to attract > the attention to the auditive aspect to create an imaginary space for > all... > > > and my questions would address precisely an assumed intimacy amongst > strangers, and the ability to listen, and to hear (especially in a context > of performing with disabilities); > our meeting was called by Felipe Monteiro (Brasil) who suffers from a > debilitating degenerative disease, and several participants joined, from > far away locations in Canada, Eastern Europe, France, Germany, etc, to help > discuss the foundation of the new Centro Antonin Artaud in Maceió, Brasil. > We had a small agenda, on fundraising, project development/management, > the setting up of a non-profit cultural association with legal statute, > financial > management, research interests, Internet, website implementation, social > media, etc. > Naturally, it was like a business meeting, though we also talked about our > interest in Artaud and "expanded theatre and cinema", new media, health > sciences, somatics and the legacies of Artaud's writings. But what I also > noticed were the "somatic alarms" you – and perhaps others here in this > netbehavior community – noticed, and that made interaction between us > strangers quite difficult, as it was even amongst colleagues (which I felt > during the pandemic, when still working at university): difficult and > cumbersome, many misunderstandings happened, many suppressions or failed > connections. > > It would interest me if others would report on their somatic alarms, or > whether performing together (Alan might argue on behalf of this?) was in > fact enhanced by isolating and debilitating networked (zoom) conditions > imposed upon us? > > respectfully, > Johannes Birringer > > > On Wed, May 31, 2023 at 2:29 PM Suzon Fuks via NetBehaviour < > netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: > >> dear Johannes, >> i am about to go to Prague Quadriennal with my new work ASSEMBLE. A bit >> hectic with some life drama around me. >> I will try to articulate more of my thoughts in writing about my >> understanding of somatic alarms when i will return, end of June. >> Embodiment and mediations, collective and/or individual are important to >> me. >> >> sending love, >> >> Suzon >> +61439929028 >> +32 489 55 24 34 >> >> *ASSEMBLE *- installation performance - 8-18 June 2023 at PQ10 - Prague >> Quadrennial - Performance Space Exhibition - with the generous support >> of the ASEKOL compliance scheme for lending e-waste >> *VOICES OF HAKKA WOMEN* - Finalist of Her Vision Film Festival and >> Special Mention from Asia South East Short Film Festival - Finalist of >> Toronto's Asian Feedback Film Festival -trailer >> https://youtu.be/ZAQYmRFaskM >> >> >> >> *I acknowledge the country, culture and traditional custodians of the >> land upon which I walk, work and live, the Turrbal and Jagera peoples.It >> takes 12000 litres of water to make 500 grams of >> chocolate! http://suzonfuks.net >> <http://suzonfuks.net/> | https://www.instagram.com/suzonfuks >> <https://www.instagram.com/suzonfuks> | http://igneous.org.au >> <http://igneous.org.au/> | http://wetlandwander.net >> <http://wetlandwander.net/>* >> >> >> On Wed, 31 May 2023 at 12:08, < >> netbehaviour-requ...@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: >> >>> Send NetBehaviour mailing list submissions to >>> netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org >>> >>> Today's Topics: >>> >>> 1. Re: 'Frugal Strategies', lesser satisfactions (Johannes Birringer) >>> >>> >>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>> >>> Message: 1 >>> Date: Tue, 30 May 2023 14:03:31 +0200 >>> From: Johannes Birringer <johannesbirring...@gmail.com> >>> To: NetBehaviour for networked distributed creativity >>> <netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> >>> Cc: Suzon Fuks <suzonf...@gmail.com> >>> Subject: Re: [NetBehaviour] 'Frugal Strategies', lesser satisfactions >>> Message-ID: >>> <CAMft7nnreg6kUhzVphGG7Zvw3HJD5peKoB= >>> ifmeqo6jpu_p...@mail.gmail.com> >>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" >>> >>> Thanks to all who responded to my post, recently, I was very happy to >>> hear >>> from you. (And was sorry to see I confused being quiet with being quite). >>> Suzon, I just reviewed >>> the short film you were instrumental in creating, on a kind of recent >>> history (before Zoom came a popular meeting space during the pandemic) of >>> networked performance; and I appreciate your reference to your own >>> performance "Be Like Body?Obsolete". >>> >>> Please share more how you understand somatic alarms, and measures to deal >>> with our crisis? >>> >>> I watched an excerpt of your beautiful project, "Be Like Body?Obsolete" >>> ( >>> https://vimeo.com/704400497O, where you seem trapped or enclosed by a >>> graveyard of computers/motherboards/screens who may now drift off like >>> space debris; though at the end of the excerpt you still seem caught in a >>> box (and then the zoom participants/observers appear on screen for a yoga >>> breathing ritual). Having participated also with Annie Abrahams' >>> "Distant >>> Feelings" and "Distant Movement" performances, which I quite liked at the >>> time, I now feel more quietly resigned, quite turned off by Zoom and >>> screen >>> meetings ? a dysfunctional space in my mind, and black screens won't help >>> me to love it either. >>> >>> I really did enjoy hearing a women's voice speak in Farsi, asking - "now, >>> human, tell us with your artificial intelligence / what color is mature >>> satisfaction?" >>> The texts written by your co-performers (all women) tend to be >>> wonderfully >>> ironic, and sarcastic, did I get that right? (and Stelarc may have been >>> an >>> "outside eye", if he could still see?). >>> >>> Have you all heard the term "black-boxing", that we are being blackboxed? >>> I wonder. >>> >>> warm regards >>> Johannes Birringer >>> >>> >>> +++ >>> >>> On Sat, May 20, 2023 at 2:57?PM Suzon Fuks via NetBehaviour < >>> netbehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org> wrote: >>> >>> > Thanks Johannes for sharing your reflection about ISEA and network >>> > performance. I think covid time has triggered some 'somatic' alarms, at >>> > least for some people who were already into network performance >>> beforehand. >>> > I also turned into my local community, my neighbourhood much more and >>> > questioned the impact of technology on humanity, through my network >>> > performance "Be Like Body?Obsolete". >>> > >>> > Two things I found interesting to experiment with in terms of tools, >>> were: >>> > - the Zoom breakout rooms which allowed immediate possibility for >>> > strangers (in small numbers) to interact and have more intimacy than if >>> > they would be in a theatre, >>> > - to remove the visuals for a while (black screen), to attract the >>> > attention to the auditive aspect to create an imaginary space for all >>> > >>> > sending love, >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > Suzon >>> > +61439929028 >>> > +32 489 55 24 34 >>> >>> _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > NetBehaviour@lists.netbehaviour.org > https://lists.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour > -- *=====================================================* *directory http://www.alansondheim.org <http://www.alansondheim.org> tel 347-383-8552**email sondheim ut panix.com <http://panix.com>, sondheim ut gmail.com <http://gmail.com>* *=====================================================*
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