digital historiography and performance

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

Just back from three (count ‘em, 3!) simultaneous performance festivals in New York and will be writing more on that soon. In the meantime, here’s a link to my blog post for the Digital Humanities Initiative at Buffalo (DHIB) on digital historiography and performance.

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Guggenheim creates its first mobile app

Posted on November 7, 2011 by

For Maurizio Cattelan: All, the Guggenheim Museum creates its first mobile app.

So, the experience of art that so annoyed theatre director, Anne Bogart back in 2008 (see here) has now become an integral part of the exhibit. I’m looking forward to seeing this soon both in its “live” incarnation and many times via the mobile app.

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WWJD? – Procession by Torn Space Theatre

Posted on October 1, 2011 by

What would Jane’s Addiction do?

Photo by: Lukia Costello, 2011.

Almost 150 years after Nietzsche pronounced, “God is dead,” we are hardly without our rituals. Some religious, some secular–repetition, community, and belief in something larger than oneself remain proven hallmarks of a satisfying life. Theatre, of course, got the early jump on this when it turned the rituals of Dionysius into community events that over time sharpened themselves into studies of the individual, society, and the tangled connections between them. Now, in a media-infused culture it can be difficult to see these ritualistic origins through webs of self-referential irony and the nearest glowing screen flashing away. Continue reading →

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Advice for the New Academic Year (from an unlikely source)

Posted on August 28, 2011 by

I’ve been sadly negligent on the blog (again) this summer. But, in the spirit of the new academic year starting tomorrow, I thought I would offer a few recommendations to my students for the coming year. The source of this is from a rather unlikely place. I teach in theatre, literature, and media, but some of the best academic advice I ever received came from my college basketball coach, Coach K. Over the next few weeks, I’ll be dispensing some of Coach K’s advice tidbits, but in the meantime, here are the top 5. Continue reading →

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Why Cutting the Arts is Not a Good Idea: Psychology Today

Posted on February 22, 2011 by

Here’s a link to the Imagine That! blog at Psychology Today. Authors Michele and Robert Root-Bernstein make a compelling and empirically-backed case for the importance of arts education in promoting innovation and creativity. The full article is: Artsmarts: Why Cutting Arts Funding Is Not a Good Idea | Psychology Today.

For the most part, I agree with the Root-Bernsteins’ reasoning and I certainly appreciate their message. I am concerned, however, that this continues the argument that for the arts to be worthwhile (and worth investment), they have to lead to a concrete, tangible, economic benefit. This is an argument that people have been making for years and I just don’t think it’s doing much good. You can’t treat art like a commodity with a specific return on investments. The cause-and-effect is either too long (e.g., the case for its role in education) or too diffuse (e.g., as in urban development). Continue reading →

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Performance in Jeopardy?

Posted on February 17, 2011 by

Last night, as reported by the New York Times, the IBM computer, nicknamed Watson, defeated the two best human contestants on the popular trivia TV game show, Jeopardy. This was the third of three games in which the computer did progressively better throughout, not only at the naturally algorithmic gameplay and buzzer anticipation, but also in its understanding of complex and even ironic wordplay.

As someone interested in artificial intelligence from a theatrical perspective, let me just say, I’m in love. Continue reading →

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Meat-Eating Furniture as theatre

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

This from Robert Krulwich at NPR: Meat-Eating Furniture : Krulwich Wonders… : NPR.

The frame for this story? Theatre. According to Krulwich, “They say their furniture is just a newfangled version of all those nature shows on television that show animals hunting in the wild. Having a clock on your wall that ‘hunts’ flies is a kind of theater.” At least that’s how the designers describe it. Continue reading →

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Art 2.0

Posted on February 15, 2011 by

There’s been quite a bit of outcry in response to Rocco Landesman’s, Chair of the National Endowment for the Arts, assessment of the current state of supply and demand for theatre in the US. His address at the New Play Conference at Arena Stage in DC, set off an immediate and widespread reaction. The immediate response via the Arena blog is here; you can watch the video of his speech here; and read his follow-up blog post here. A few representative responses to his statements are here and here. Rather than add to these responses, I would like to focus on a more limited area of his address, specifically the emphasis that Landesman and the NEA place on technology in relation to arts development and consumption in this country. Continue reading →

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CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE TXTS CALL FOR PROPOSALS DEADLINE MIDNIGHT EST MARCH 4, 2011 – Contemporary Performance Network

Posted on February 14, 2011 by

This is just too cool. A chance, via blog post, to include your work in a proposed publication from the folks at Contemporary Performance Network. Great blog, great network, and now a great opportunity.

CONTEMPORARY PERFORMANCE TXTS CALL FOR PROPOSALS DEADLINE MIDNIGHT EST MARCH 4, 2011 – Contemporary Performance Network.

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Google Body: browsing the inside

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

I picked up this little tidbit from the links on timehuman.blogspot.com. Google is now letting us browse the interior body. Why is it that bodies are simultaneously becoming more and less tangible in popular culture? Thinking about how this can connect to posthumanities.

Here’s the link: Google Body – Google Labs

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