Ball Thrown Round The World

I don’t know if anyone caught this Guardian article on Artsjournal.com in the last day or so. The story covers, Play on Earth, an effort by performance groups on three continents to create and interactively perform with one another with the help of technology. I had previously mentioned a related effort by MIT in an entry a couple years ago.

The Guardian article presents what may be a preview of the format the performing arts may take in the future. It seems quite ripe with possibility. It could be exciting to see how directors might exploit the real time chronological differences in clever ways.

The danger element inherent to having separate directors and casts who have never met each other might provide a draw to audiences as an alternative to the well-edited movie or television show. We often talk about one of the appeals of live performance being that anything can happen and this certainly reintroduces that concept. The irony is, it is the instability of network connection that contributes to this sense that catastrophe may be imminent. As technology improves, performances may have to up the ante in other areas to maintain the ambiance.

About Joe Patti

I have been writing Butts in the Seats (BitS) on topics of arts and cultural administration since 2004 (yikes!). Given the ever evolving concerns facing the sector, I have yet to exhaust the available subject matter. In addition to BitS, I am a founding contributor to the ArtsHacker (artshacker.com) website where I focus on topics related to boards, law, governance, policy and practice.

I am also an evangelist for the effort to Build Public Will For Arts and Culture being helmed by Arts Midwest and the Metropolitan Group. (http://www.creatingconnection.org/about/)

My most recent role was as Executive Director of the Grand Opera House in Macon, GA.

Among the things I am most proud are having produced an opera in the Hawaiian language and a dance drama about Hawaii's snow goddess Poli'ahu while working as a Theater Manager in Hawaii. Though there are many more highlights than there is space here to list.

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