Cyberformance refers to live theatrical performances in which remote participants are enabled to work together in real time through the medium of the internet, employing technologies such as chat applications or purpose-built, multiuser, real-time collaborative software (for example,

UpStage Upstage may refer to: * UpStage, an open source server-side application that has been purpose built for cyberformance * ''Upstage'' (film), (also known as The Mask of Comedy) is a 1926 American silent romantic drama film *The Upstage Gallery, feat ...

, Visitors Studio, the Waterwheel Tap,

MOO A MOO ("MUD, object-oriented") is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users (players) are connected at the same time. The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses. One is to refer to those programs descend ...

s, and other platforms). Cyberformance is also known as online performance, networked performance, telematic performance, and digital theatre; there is as yet no consensus on which term should be preferred, but cyberformance has the advantage of compactness. For example, it is commonly employed by users of the

platform to designate a special type of

Performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

activity taking place in a

cyber- Internet-related prefixes such as '' e-'', '' i-'', '' cyber-'', '' info-'', '' techno-'' and ''net-'' are added to a wide range of existing words to describe new, Internet- or computer-related flavors of existing concepts, often electronic product ...

artistic environment. Cyberformance can be created and presented entirely online, for a distributed online audience who participate via internet-connected computers anywhere in the world, or it can be presented to a proximal audience (such as in a physical theatre or gallery venue) with some or all of the performers appearing via the internet; or it can be a hybrid of the two approaches, with both remote and proximal audiences and/or performers.

History and context

The term 'cyberformance' (a

portmanteau word A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsHelen Varley Jamieson. She states that the invention of this term in 2000 "came out of the need to find a word that avoided the polarisation of virtual and real, and the need for a new term (rather than 'online performance' or 'virtual theatre') for a new genre". Jamieson traces the history of cyberformance back to the ''Satellite Arts Project'' of 1977, when interactive art pioneers Kit Galloway and Sherrie Rabinowitz used live video mixing to create what they called "a performance space with no geographic boundaries". Online performances or virtual theatre has taken place in a number of the virtual environments that have emerged since the 1980s, including the multi-user virtual environments known as MUDs and

s in the 1970s, internet chat spaces (e.g.

Internet Relay Chat Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat an ...

, or IRC) in the 1980s, the Palace graphical chatroom in the 1990s, and

, Visitors Studio,

Second Life ''Second Life'' is an online multimedia platform that allows people to create an avatar for themselves and then interact with other users and user created content within a multi player online virtual world. Developed and owned by the San Fra ...

, Waterwheel Tap and other platforms in the 2000s. Notable cyberformance groups and projects thus far include: *

The Hamnet Players The Hamnet Players, founded in 1993, perform virtual theatre (cyberformance) using IRC chat. Overview On 12 December 1993, a dozen people gathered at an event which made cyber-history: an experimental performance on IRC–Internet Relay Chat of ...

. Founded by Stuart Harris, this group performed in IRC; their earliest performance was "Hamnet" in 1993. * The Plaintext Players. Founded by Antoinette LaFarge, this group performs in MOOs and mixed reality spaces; their earliest performance was "Christmas" in 1994. * "ParkBench." Created by Nina Sobell and Emily Hartzell in 1994, this was a collaborative performance and drawing space using live video and a web browser interface. * Desktop Theater. Founded by Adriene Jenik and Lisa Brenneis, this group performed in the Palace; an example of their work is "waitingforgodot.com", 1997. * Avatar Body ''Collision''. Founded by Helen Varley Jamieson, Karla Ptacek, Vicki Smith, and Leena Saarinen in 2002, this online performance collective uses

, a web-based software purpose-built for cyberformance with a New Zealand government grant * aether9. A collaborative art project exploring the field of realtime video transmission, initiated in 2007 by artists from Europe, North and South America. * Avatar Orchestra Metaverse (AOM). A formation in the virtual online environment Second Life (SL), exploring interactive possibilities with avatars. * Second Front. A pioneering performance art group in the online, avatar-based Virtual Reality world of Second Life. * Low Lives. An international festival of live performance-based works transmitted via the internet and projected in real time at multiple venues around the world.

Features of cyberformance

Cyberformance differs from digital performance, which refers to any kind of digitally mediated performance, including those with no significant networked element. In some cases cyberformance may be considered a subset of

net art upright=1.3, "Simple Net Art Diagram", a 1997 work by Michael Sarff and Tim Whidden Internet art (also known as net art) is a form of new media art distributed via the Internet. This form of art circumvents the traditional dominance of the phys ...

; however, many cyberformance artists use what is termed 'mixed reality' or 'mixed space' for their work, linking physical, virtual, and cyber spaces in manifold ingenious ways. The internet is often a subject and inspiration of the work as well as being the central enabling technology. Cyberformers often work with the dual identities afforded by avatars, exploiting the gap between online persona and offline self. They can also take advantage of the ease of switching between avatars in a way unavailable to 'proximal' actors. However cyberformance has its own unique problems, including unstable technology and "real life" interruptions.

References

External links

cyberformance.org

Plaintext Players website

networked_performance blog

Upstage website

Performance Online
- resesarcher Francesco Buonaiuto's site, includes timeline
The CyPosium
- an online symposium on cyberformance, held on 12 October 2012 Theatre Internet art Digital art Computer art

History and context

Features of cyberformance

References

Further reading

External links