digital dance interactions
Neil Smith, Naomi Morris and Kate Willis created installations at the 03 gallery and in the punishment cells of the castle below. In the gallery a projection accompanied by sound changed its visual patterning and aural rhythms in response to the movement of vistors and dancers. In a box upstairs three aged looking miniature photos nestled in a box of earth. Peering closely at them your face is captured by a camera which sends your image into a projected barred window. Drawing on facets of life lived in the prison the interactive projection downstairs used filming of sewing hessian manipulated through technology and interaction. The miniature photos were actually cleverly fused onto the faces of thin slices of potato.
The potato theme continued in one of the cells where microphones picked up the sounds of potatos being peeled and these were additionally manipuated live through loops and delays. A single light revealed 2 bowls of water and a hessian sack of potatoes. The water connected with a further projection in a different cell of a riverside walk -the possible imaginings/dreamings of the pleasure of the outside natural world contrasting the reality of confinement. Entering between these two the movement of the visitor triggered projections on the back wall of disembodied heads of the creators, themselves like ghosts of the past turning to look over their shoulder at you. As their faces turn back away they disappear and you are left with the fabric of cold stone and the traces of lives past.
I joined Kate Willis, Naomi Morris, Sarah Bishop and Sarah Whately on Friday to dance in response to these installations and as it also turned out the site itself -making use of the grass, paths and walls. With no preparation but a score we had the opportunity through 4 separate performances to work with each other and the installations. I felt that we were somewhere between installation and ‘performance’ which was a bit difficult -raised plenty of questions for me. Fortunately the team (minus me but plus Sue Amey) had another opportunity to develop responses the next day Saturday and by all accounts these were more successful.