Licht Thoughts

Ethical Implications
If you give the audience the power to affect the piece, are you compromising your own artistic integrity?

Are you making your actors vulnerable to harassment and manipulation?
:All performers should be mentally and emotionally prepared to be jolted around a bit by audiences, particularly people who have never had an opportunity to touch a light board before and people who are trying to learn how to operate the piece. That is not to say the actor is not empowered. The actor is never put into a position where he is made to do anything he would rather not. He sets his limits himself, and no amount of jerking or jolting will cause him to modify his behaviour beyond that which he has established for himself to do. Claudio will only run as fast as he feels comfortable and can sustain for the duration of his rotation. While he is expected to consistently perform according to his lighting, he sets his own energy limits according to his ability at the time.


Performance Implications
If the performers must change their intensity or emotion according to the light provided, can there be honesty or truthful energy?
: if the performer considers his light to be another performer, then his energy can reflect its changes in an honest way. Likewise, if he likens it to a musical swell or scenic change, he may feel compelled to change to match it simply by the true energy relationship he has with it.

Human Element:
The relationship between actor and light is not always precise:
They determine their performance energy according to how much light they believe they have.
Their estimate of light intensity is affected by other light intensities—both of the phases provided to them earlier and of the intensity being offered to other performers.
The intensity of their performance is affected by their own personal energy level, their engagement with the action performed, the amount they trust the audience, and their attention to concurrent performances.

While precision could be maintained with a computerized system—volume or robotic movement controlled directly by the light board—not only has this already been done, but it is not performance. It is kinetic sculpture. Licht is an interface—a challenge to both performer and board operator to both be actively engaged in the energy exchange.

Performers found that they began to get a feel for operators, and found ways of adapting to particular lighting rhythms and patterns. Operators who tended to mix the performances in high-speed, rhythmic ways were frequently pleased to discover that actors would repeat a short noise or movement until they were confident they had time to continue in a meaningful way. For instance, Jenny would repeat a quick 7-step Flamenco pattern in 1-second bursts, while Cristian would sing "whoa!"--and alternation between the two could be very musically pleasing. Geraldine would isolate chunks of her stories for staccato delivery: "it was!" "the best!" "thing I'd!" "ever!" "seen!" to allow for musical play with the sound of her voice.

Social Implications:

Audience members who “get” the performance inform the newly-arrived, affording them a sense of inclusion and identification both with the piece and with the other viewers.

Some audience members choose not to participate, but watch the performance. Others pay more attention to the board operator. Some watch the performance, the operator, and other audience members. Some wander past without stopping.

The performance was constructed with the space as a primary consideration. Our vault at Shunt was near the main entrance and opened straight onto the main hall. Thus it was important to not have a huge clot of people blocking up the corridor for two hours a night. Rather than building a performance that would keep audience members attentive for an hour, then, I rotated the performers and their actions every 10 minutes, and did not ensure that performances suggested a through-line or theme. The show changed completely every 10 minutes. This kept the actors fresh and kept the audience moving--some would think the show was over when they rotated (though clued-in audience members would frequently inform those who were beginning to applaud or leave that this was not so, keeping them there) and others would simply no longer be able to engage with the piece once the content they had created changed. By changing the content I was able to keep the hallway passable without causing people to feel rushed, shoved, or unwelcome. I found this movement felt organic, and, as this was not a content-driven but form-driven piece, there was no need to keep people around after they'd gotten their fill.

Quick Audience Chats:

Individuals and groups who have enjoyed controlling the board have included:
Musicians
Dancers
Technicians
Writers
Photographers
Djs/Track Samplers

A string quartet spent a full ten minutes with the piece, conducting all components like an orchestra and dancing around.

A rapper and his girlfriend spent over five minutes carefully mixing Spanish and Italian voices into pleasing rhythms.

A group of photographers spent twenty minutes poised to the side of the board, snapping away as other audience members created light looks.

A dancer spent five minutes on the board, aligning a dancer and a singer into harmony.

“Clap, Clown! This is the best thing I've ever seen!” (drunken city boy with a bourbon and coke)

An off-duty Shunt lighting technician spent several quiet minutes arranging voices and stories to create relationships between the performers. “See, I tried these two together (slides up an aggressive-looking seated man and a hopeful-looking woman leaning against an alcove) but I couldn't see why she would want him, he looks like such a jerk. But these two together (brings up a guitarist happily tapping on his instrument and whistling, and hopeful woman) seem to be each other's...brains, you know? And these two (brings up aggressive man and a woman dancing around and blowing a whistle) have something in common, but I'm not sure what it is. Maybe he's watching her, and puffing his chest up to try and get her attention?”

Options for Development:

Right now, Licht is a demonstration and an opening discussion for a performance platform. I'm actively seeking writers to develop themes and characters who may all relate to one another, an event, or a concept who would be interested to adapt their story or outline to a Licht interface. I believe it is possible to rotate performers to create distinct, engaging, and themed scenes.

I have also considered offering the interface to composers and musical troupes, both for exploration and for performance. It works well with music, and is less ethically dubious—musicians are used to following a conductor, and know that their adherence to the dynamics and timing of the conductor benefit the piece as a whole. The same is true for dancers and singers.