Zoom Performance Symposium

We invite you to be present at the Zoom Performance Symposium, hosted by the Kunstakademie Münster in collaboration with the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Like “zoom fatigue” and “zoom party”, the term “zoom performance” has become a catch-all for a phenomenon from the years 2020–21: the forms of online live performances that made use of video conferencing platforms. Although many other such platforms exist, Zoom became a typical feature of the pandemic experience of artists and art students and their audiences. In the post-pandemic moment, we want to examine what has been produced online, and how we can expand on a discipline that is much more than a product of circumstance. What streamed performance practices and what hybrid practices—where liveness occurs in person and online simultaneously—exist today?  What tradition is it indebted to?

Since the 1980’s, artists have performed their work via computer platforms, many of which were also originally designed to enable (spoken) information exchange. Practices previously known as Cyberformance, Virtual Theatre, Telepresence Art or Networked Performance incorporated the input of audiences in ways not previously seen in live performance. The nature of the works changed along with the technologies but there is much to be learned from the early makers.

Professor for performative art at the Kunstakademie Münster Nicoline van Harskamp, and professor for stage design at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf Lena Newton, bring together a group of practitioners and theorists from different fields and generations. They will all be present in Münster, and we welcome visitors in person and online.

Presence
First, we want to consider how online performers or online audience members can create presence, and what constitutes performativity in the digital sphere. The symposium will start with the theatrical work of Mallika Taneja (India), whose award-winning performance Allegedly was made in 2020 with a large cast of women, performing from their homes during lockdown. Jana Kerima and Lex Rütten (Germany) will question physicality and humanness through their digital art works.

Technology
Technology defines the form of art works in the digital realm through its technical features, as well as through its accessibility. Media and technology critique has been inherent to Net Art from its early days. Many works use a glitch aesthetic, by misusing technology up to the point of break-down. Joan Heemskerk of the art collective JODI (Netherlands) will present works like My Desktop OS X 10.4.7. Theatre maker Pablo Fontdevila (Argentina/Netherlands) talks about The Visit, a one-to-one online performance he developed during the first 2020 lockdown, using everyday technology to create a theatrical setting. During the symposium, visitors are invited to take part in an experiment using their laptops or other devices.

Intermediality
Working with online tools means working in several spaces simultaneously, and allowing for various forms of participation, feedback, and evaluation. Artist Ali Eslami (Iran) presents False Mirror, a complex ongoing work that comprises a a lecture, a performance, and a VR installation.

Theory and Workshops
Scholar Clara Gomes (Portugal) introduces some key works in so-called “cyberformance”, and the theoretical foundation for the three main themes of the symposium: presence, technology and intermediality. We will connect live with a parallel symposium at the Research Centre for Arts and Communication in Faro (Portugal), about the development of a new pedagogical model for teaching cyberperformance in higher education. Mallika Taneja and Pablo Fontvilla will give one day workshops for students and guests in Münster on July 1. To take part, please contact the organizers for more information.

The Zoom Performance Symposium is part of the project Telepresence Toolbox, in which a team of students, staff and external guests of  both academies will create an online platform and a physical equipment set, dedicated to live streaming events and performative works. It is funded by a Digi Fellowship of the German State of Nordrhein Westfalen. Check the Telepresence Toolbox website for updates.

To register for the Zoom Performance Symposium, please write the team for a link to the live stream. To attend in person, also send us a message. The symposium is free of charge.