
Digital Performance
A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation
Steve Dixon(Author)
MIT Press
Published on 3. April 2007
Book
Hardback
828 pages
978-0-262-04235-2 (ISBN)
Description
The historical roots, key practitioners, and artistic, theoretical, and technological trends in the incorporation of new media into the performing arts.The past decade has seen an extraordinarily intense period of experimentation with computer technology within the performing arts. Digital media has been increasingly incorporated into live theater and dance, and new forms of interactive performance have emerged in participatory installations, on CD-ROM, and on the Web. In Digital Performance, Steve Dixon traces the evolution of these practices, presents detailed accounts of key practitioners and performances, and analyzes the theoretical, artistic, and technological contexts of this form of new media art. Dixon finds precursors to today's digital performances in past forms of theatrical technology that range from the deus ex machina of classical Greek drama to Wagner's Gesamtkunstwerk (concept of the total artwork), and draws parallels between contemporary work and the theories and practices of Constructivism, Dada, Surrealism, Expressionism, Futurism, and multimedia pioneers of the twentieth century. For a theoretical perspective on digital performance, Dixon draws on the work of Philip Auslander, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Jean Baudrillard, and others. To document and analyze contemporary digital performance practice, Dixon considers changes in the representation of the body, space, and time. He considers virtual bodies, avatars, and digital doubles, as well as performances by artists including Stelarc, Robert Lepage, Merce Cunningham, Laurie Anderson, Blast Theory, and Eduardo Kac. He investigates new media's novel approaches to creating theatrical spectacle, including virtual reality and robot performance work, telematic performances in which remote locations are linked in real time, Webcams, and online drama communities, and considers the "extratemporal" illusion created by some technological theater works. Finally, he defines categories of interactivity, from navigational to participatory and collaborative. Dixon challenges dominant theoretical approaches to digital performance-including what he calls postmodernism's denial of the new-and offers a series of boldly original arguments in their place.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: College Graduate Student and over
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
235 illus.; 235 Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 178 mm
Thickness: 35 mm
Weight
1315 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-04235-2 (9780262042352)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Steve Dixon
Digital Performance
A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation
Book
01/2015
MIT Press
€62.00
Shipment within 10-20 days

Steve Dixon
Digital Performance
A History of New Media in Theater, Dance, Performance Art, and Installation
E-Book
02/2007
MIT Press
€53.99
Available for download
Person
Steve Dixon is President of LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore.