0.
abstract 1.
introduction 2.
method as field of discussion
3. practice
4. theory
5. conclusion and further discussions
2.1 the practice of this practice-based study: Extended My experience of experimental, practice-based study of digital media derives from the collaborative multimedia performance production Extended. During three hectic months of autumn 2002, thirteen graduate dance-students, four choreography-students, my fellow master-student Kristoffer Kjelling and I collaborated in making four media-rich dance performances to be performed in presence of audience by the end of the semester. The interdisciplinary performance production was part of the practice-based educational design of the master´s level course “New Media Education” at IMK, autumn 2002/Spring 2003, initiated and supervised by media-researchers at at the einterdisciplinary research centre InterMedia in partnership with the National College of Ballet and Dance and the Department of Media Studies at the University of Oslo [11. members and partners] [12. related projects]. In contrast to the now extensive body of work covering diverse approachs to digital media, studies of digital media in performance art has received less attention from the view of media studies. "New Media Education" aimed at extending the analytical approach to digital media with practice-based knowledge from a collaborative experimental production, exploring features of digital media as performance, through performance practice and web-based research presentation. In addition to the dancer´s movements, visual digital media were included in the performances as present and arguably performing components. By and large, the performances aimed at exploring how movement, space and media could complement one another. In detail, the performances projected 2 dimensional media into a 3 dimensional performance space, combined live movements with projections of live and recorded video, photo-montages, video-feedback and Flash-animations. The performances may be categorised as “cross-media” expressions or “multimedia performances” as I will continue to call them in the following. The media elements of these works were designed, developed and performed by Kjelling and by me. This was done by means of hardware partly supported by IMK, InterMedia and the National College of Dance, and their technical staff. In developing these media works, we drew on our theoretical and analytical education in literature- and media studies as well as discussions and readings, which were part of "New Media Education" cource. In practical terms, Kjelling and I drew on experience in making media for print and web through other practice-based courses at IMK and student related publications (e.g. covers of Mediert 1. 2.). Following discussions with the large group of participants, the multimedia performance-series and the collaborative production was entitled Extended. The concept “extended” was introduced to challenge our notions of performativity and to find ways of reaching beyond our given experience and competencies by way of collaboration (Morrison 2004). Who is artistically and creatively responsible when the technical conditions of digital media both limits and opens up new possibilities for live movements? How may the interplay between live movements and mediated material be approachd analytically, when digital, dynamic media extends scenography´s role of visual supplement? The interdependence of human performer and media-as-actor in multimedia performances alters earlier notions and expectations of stage and staging (Sparacino et al.1999) and the concepts of “performance” and “performativity” may be said to be reconstituted themselves by multimedia performances (e.g. Carlson 1996, Birringer 1998). The challenging impact of digital media on notions of performativity and performance practice is part of the larger picture of digital media I portrayed earlier. Through digital technology and cultural expressions engaging this technology, such as multimedia performances, theoretical frameworks of the humanities are being challenged. New production designs and new theoretical frameworks are crucial to get at novel digital media forms, and the interplay of for instance digital media and live performance. As will be argued further, this may be fruitfully achieved through practice-based method, set in collaborative and in many ways contradictive contexts such such as Extended. Extended was set in an educational framework of cultural historical activity theory, which sees the activities of learning as occurring in a context and a community (e.g. Engeström 1999, Morrison 2004). Key contextual factors of learning are networks of activity, multi-voicedness, mediating artifacts, contradictions and boundary crossing. When digital media is included in the (performance-) activity as an additional mediating artifact contradicting live performance, secondary contradictions may generate as a result. These may occur between maker/viewer, performer/audience, producer/user – contradictions which are core challenges within the growing theoretical tradition of multimedia dance performance (e.g. deLahunta 2002:106). Activity theory will be explained more fully in next chapter 3. "Practice", as I will use the conceptual apparatus to frame the collaboratory production Extended and the driving factors of knowledge-making in this educational process. Field of inquiry: Practice-based method. Instance of inquiry: Multimedia performance practice. Although this practice-based study is set in a collaboratory multimedia performance context, it is important for the reading of the two-folded thesis to keep the fields of practice-based method and multimedia performance separate. Practice-based method within digital media studies is the research field of this thesis, while multimedia performance is the context of Extended, the case of this inquiry. The purpose of this thesis is not to investigate digital media in Extended as such, but instead possibly capture the dynamic between digital media-practice and digital media-theory in a collaborative and explorative context. My experience from Extended did not only inform my knowledge of digital media through collaborative performance practice (see my on-line paper from “New Media Education” 2003). On a reflexive level, my experience from Extended informed my knowledge of how collaborative and explorative practice may contribute to digital media-inquiry. My refined knowledge of how digital media challenges performance practice and analysis in my reference to Extended is considered a contribution to the field of digital media and multimedia performance, but is secondary to the discussion on method. The refined knowledge serves here as illustrations of the advantages of practice-based research designs towards digital media. In the following, I will try to situate this inquiry in relation to relevant research contexts and central discussions on method – from preliminary discussions on method and practice based method in humanities to related research initiatives and more explicitly linked contexts of practice-based inquiries of digital media set in a multimedia performance background. Most of these research initiatives will be taken up more thoroughly in Chapter 4. "Theory", applied in dialogue with my practical experience. The aim of this introductory, theoretical overview is to locate the initiatives in relation to each other and situate this thesis accordingly. My choice of term, "practice-based method", will be accounted for as part of this research orientation. |
2.3 form and structure adapted to practice-based mode |
2.4 theoretical interdisciplinarity and specified terms |
2.5 of process-oriented reasons |
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Practice-based Method. Exploring Digital Media through
the Dynamics of Practice, Theory, and Collaborative, Multimedia Performance
Hovedoppgave i mediavitenskap for cand.filol
graden, Universitetet i Oslo, Institutt for medier og kommunikasjon, Mai
2006, Idunn Sem
