Cassandra/an appology, some ?s, and feedback

Amanda Steggell (a.j.steggell@notam.uio.no)
Mon, 16 Dec 1996 14:51:18 +0100 (MET)

Hi all,

just read through my mail from yesterday, which I have 2 admit was written
in a tremendous hurry!
Of course i was referring 2 the "cassandra" happening yesterday, which i
presume u all know about?

I wrote
(- just tryin' 2 build up some performance fellin' here)
and meant FEELING not FELLING which is something completely different!

Here's some feedback of my experience of the event from my screen here in
norway. Unfortunately the web pages did not work for me - each time I tried
2 open them, my mac crashed. Did anyone else experience these problems?

However the images/video I received in CU-SeeMe were great - I am of course
a pixle enthusiast! Never the less,
it was hard 2 find a relationship between the "theme" of the piece and the
"happening" on my screen - this could b bcos I was without the added info.
on the web-pages. I am v. intersted to hear what happened on the webpages,
and would b happy 4 other people's experiences. Though I was enthralled by
the Cassandra event, it also gave me the feeling of missing being in the
local space, also a problem which has arisen in my own net events.

As I have already mentioned, the theme of cassandra, (the Greek myhtology),
dissappeared for me as a solely CU-SeeMe audience.

It seems 2 me that in events such as these, the fact that SOMETHING is
happening rather overshadows the thematic/artistic intentions of the
creative initiators. The thematic material becomes a platform of focus for
participators. The "something" in itself is almost a myhtological occurance
as time and place dissolves into connection and disconnection, reception
and transmission.

I wonder if it is time for us to let ancient gods and goddesses rest a
while - they sure have been raging around in cyberspace in great abundance
- and 2 start to create pieces that manage to cater for the kind of
segregation of elements which occurs through the technology, through the
split locations, and through the structuring and "nature" of mixed media
interactive works.

Several questions arise:

What is the dance without the sound?
What is the poetry without the dance?
What is text, what is voice, what is language?
What happens when an element of a whole (which no-one has full control
over) is absent for an audience or a performer?
What is the pixelled, time lagged video image without the fluidity of
movement in realspace?
How is pre-recorded material relevant in this kind of exchange/interaction work?
Is prerecorded material and our aesthetical expectations of dramatical
pieces hindering us in gettin on with the interactive possibilities that
technology can offer us?
There is a difference between "u r on record" (L.Anderson) and "this has
been recorded" - how do we use this difference?

(i would like 2 say again, just 2 make it clear, that i am not ripping off
the Cassandra event in any way. Quite the opposite. These r questions that
r occuring 2 me in my own work, through experiencing others works, etc)

I wonder if we should be stripping down, stripping off and gettin' "nood"
in our experimentation?

What do u think?

Ps. i have a few screen shots from Cassandra if anyone would like 2 c them.

Best Wishes

M@ggie
xxxxx

http://www.notam.uio.no/~amandajs/
Tel:+47 22603861 Fax:+47 22176225
Ulfstensgt.1a, 0355 Oslo, Norway.