Into the Wilderness

As I approached the EMPAC center Saturday afternoon, I noticed a small gathering of people standing inside the door - perhaps watching someone or something. As I walked inside the building, I was careful to close the door softly behind me, as not to disturb the performance. Before me was an concentric circle filled with what I can only describe as black mulch. A small audience was gathered, sitting on stools in the circle and watching a man, who was standing. The only way I can describe him is that he looked as though he was taking his shirt off, but was frozen in that moment when the shirt was just over his head – his body was still covered, except for his arms. “Aaaaaaaaahhhh!” he bellowed, gradually becoming louder until his voice seemed to immerse the entire EMPAC. The juxtaposition of the performer's raw emotion/sorrow and people purchasing tickets was jarring, almost comical to me at first. Here I was, plunged into the filament festival In Media Res

In other words, Wilderness confronted me immediately. According to the the artist, Yanira Castro, “creates site-adaptable dance projects within visual and audio environments”, and it seems fitting that this project was in the entryway of the entire festival, establishing a link between the performance, its participants, and the larger audience.

After the individual man finished his lament, the space changed. Chairs gone, and the audience quickly became a part of the wilderness – “dancers, crew, musicians, and audience - all who inhabit the space -share the same ecosystem.” In this next segment, audience members were scattered throughout the Wilderness in natural positions – sitting, or kneeling, or standing. The quartet of dancers (2 males, 2 females) begin to dance within the circle in a very formal and ballet like pattern (I am certainly not an expert here). They were not distinguished by their clothing -– one dancer was even wearing jean shorts and pirouetting – but by their way of interacting with the space. With the piano music lending to their movements, depicting emotions of mainly curiosity. They began to engage the people within their space, moving them slightly, touching their hands, or whispering to them. At one point, one of the male dancers kicked his leg so violently that some of the mulch sprayed outside of the circle, by the doors of the EMPAC. That motion was a violent reminder that I was not part of the Wilderness – but an audience member, watching a participatory audience within this space. In addition, audience members inside the circle carried the dancers at one point in time – helping to lift them across the terrain. The brochure advertises, “Viewers become a part of the performance system, as their behavior influences the sound and movement. No two performances are the same” (brochure, p. 22).

This performance recalled to mind our discussion in Electronic Arts last week regarding interactive art. The performance, and the way the dancers interacted with the audience members, suggests “the audience makes decisions about the creative process and is genuinely reflected in the resulting creation” (Rockeby 144), especially if “no two performances are the same.” Here is where I wished I could see not one performance of Wilderness, but several. Each movement seemed to be choreographed by the quartet of dancers, including how they initiated contact and provided instruction to their audience members. The “control” and “creative process” seemed to be in the hand of the artist, and this notion of the viewers behavior influencing sound and movement seemed false to me.

This performance also reminded me of the happenings. The audience in the ecosystem were not technologically mediated in any way; instead, the communication and participation existed between two human beings: the dancer and the audience member – not in the case of Abacus. As Dinkla states, “The decisive factor in judging the receptive situation is how active the unprepared viewer becomes within a certain framework and without specific instructions” (283). I have not seen the dress rehearsal or the two other times Wilderness was performed (Fri. evening and Sat. night), but it would have been interesting to observe the notion of control or influence in all performances, particularly among the audience members and the entire Wilderness experience itself.

Finally, to place Wilderness within the context of the festival itself : the performance/interaction overwhelming had a spirit of creativity and play. Play is an integral part of a “festival,” and it is a way to welcome the viewer into this world, as well as blur the line between audience and artist.

For more information on Wilderness: http://www.acanarytorsi.org/blog/

Wilderness Blog/Research: http://www.acanarytorsi.org/blog/category/wilderness-research/