Formation and cut : the distinct stratification of live media performance

Scott, JE

Abstract

This presentation uses the theme of stratification in relation to Karen Barad’s ‘agential cut’ (in Kember and Zylinska 2012: 81) to argue for a discrete understanding of live media work within the field of intermediality. Live media performance encompasses modes where media elements are activated in real time and in the presence of the experiencers, including practices such as VJ-ing, live cinema, live coding and my own practice of live intermediality. The distinctive stratification of live media performance is revealed through its relation to the ‘cut’, which, in archaeological terms, is where an incision is made into the strata and a cross section of stratified material removed. Using such ideas as a lens through which to view the practice of live media performance, the real time formation of the intermedial space and successive events of stratification enacted by the performer are highlighted. In this work the strata, as they are formed, are held in a charged and composite intermedial moment, before their erasure, through the performer’s onstage ‘cut’ is enacted. As a result, live media work focuses attention on what Karen Barad calls the ‘agential cut’, in that the ‘intra-action’ (in Kember and Zylinska 2012: 81) between performer and intermedial space is a present part of meaning-making within the work.

Citation

Scott, J. (2014, July). Formation and cut : the distinct stratification of live media performance. Presented at International Federation of Theatre Research Annual Conference, University of Warwick

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: International Federation of Theatre Research Annual Conference
• Conference Location: University of Warwick
• Start Date: Jul 1, 2014
• Deposit Date: Nov 30, 2015
• Publisher URL: http://www.firt-iftr.org/
• Additional Information: Event Type : Conference