jeudesjeux_beeldverhaal -> jeudesjeux_cour_beeldverhaal

As part of the manual set of scores jeudesjeux_beeldverhaal.xml wants to illustrate the principle of triggering image and sound through the position of the body. It uses the logo in places surveiled by cameras – this is imposed by the Belgian law (img above left). The lines are filled with text about the routes people tend to take daily, depending on parameters as ‘work’, ‘weather’, ‘time’, ‘company’ etc. The text is used in following scores to play with.
We felt the need to change the image into something ‘more human’. In jeudesjeux_cour_beeldverhaal.xml we changed the logo by a cut up screenshot of the surveillance camera of DPF. It became really exiting when we made the picture transparant and started moving ‘inside’ it. We also added objects. There it was: magic! We realized we had found an entrance into objscrs that would change our experiences and perspective forever.

This is what happens: dance on stage becomes a theatrical moving image on screen. The bodies turn the pictures into a universe and start telling stories by moving inside like ghostly creatures. The experience of watching is as exciting as the experience of moving on stage. Both experiences are very different. Whereas a spectator you watch with the impatience of the kid listening to the storyteller making up your own imaginary experience, you wait for the bodies to move further to continue creating your narrative. As a performer moving ‘inside’ the image allows for very rich and unexpected associations. This is the perfect territory for improvisations of all sorts. We’re only on the doorstep yet.

Lot and Dorothé improvised ‘in’ the picture for our very intimate audience. The result seems to be highly legible. The approach makes the narrative of the software stand out (finally!). Descriptions that came up afterwards were: the ‘ghostliness of real body in an artificial environment’, ‘the sense of loosing gravity’, ‘the manipulation of fiction and reality’.

We did some more experiments with other pictures. The conclusion is crystal clear: we’ll continue in different styles!