company in space
In a paper presented at the recent Curatorial Lab conference in Melbourne, Ross Gibson, then the Creative Director of the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, Cinemedia, spoke of the potential for audio-visual art and hybrid performance to create a sense of 'wonder' in the audience. This term best describes my initial encounter with the C03 live virtual reality performance by Company In Space, presented as part of Interact 2001 : Asia Pacific Multimedia Festival, Melbourne. Company in Space is a group of Melbourne-based artists, animators, writers, composers, performers, sound engineers and computer programmers, which engages in live events that link performers and audiences around the world.
Conceptualised by John McCormick and Company In Space allies, C03 attempted to explore the ambiguous interfaces between the technological and the human. Performance artist/postmodern dancer, Hellen Sky, negotiated this terrain of interaction with the support of a team of artists and technophiles. During the opening night performance, viewers sat transfixed, engaged in various visual and aural moments of encounter. The immersive environment, including the spectacle of the light projections, interactions between the performer and her avatars, and emotive soundscapes, situated the audience in a state of awe. Audience members could interact with the work in manifold ways, deciding whether to watch the various screens, observe the performer, or survey the computer monitors as John McCormick loaded various packages to make the virtual links with Florida-based artist, Keith Roberson.
C03 used a theatrical framework in that the temporal aspects of the work required the audience to sit in a theatre and allocate forty minutes of their time and attention to the performance. lt took place in RMIT's newly renovated Capitol Theatre, a space that has an