Digital Theatre and Mediated Performance: A Comparative Studies on 12 Cases in UK and around the World(2/2)

This three-year research project employs the methods of archival research, digital management andfield study, charting 12 cases of mediated performance projects in UK, Spain, US and Taiwan. Theselected cases come from two categories: digital archive and digital mediated performance. Theresearch objectives are to explore how participatory and mediated performance practices can engagediverse audience experiences of the digital era? How can we analyze the performing arts audiences ofthe past along side contemporary participatory cultures to model a new paradigm for arts appreciationcentered on audience-powered conversations, both live and digital? How are the new forms of culturalpractice and artistic innovation widening purposes of the theatre's cultural project in a changing digitalworld? Through detailed case-studies, this project will also explore how the digital is providing newscope for our thinking about the theatre, as well as how the theatre in turn is challenging how we mightrelate to the digital. Looking at how digital culture has transformed unitary authorship of live performanceattendance into a collective and dispersed endeavor, this project also explores the concept of authorshipas a capitalist institution and as a new collaborative model for creation in the digital age? How has thedigital archiving become a competitive site that is highly contestant to the attendance of live performances?How the world performance venues cope with this new trend, thus complicating the creation andpreservation of cultural memory and history via performing arts?To strengthen exchange of dialogues and collaboration between performing arts and digital mediation,this project proposes to co-research with at least one digital engineer. This ultimate goals for this project isto explore research methods for performing arts and theatre studies that can address the pressing currentproblems of the digital era, thereby stimulating possible new ways of performing art archiving as well astheatre managements.