By Grainne Maxwell
Imagine twelve people lawlessly vocalizing their views on a dance performance; all expressing their varied opinions, ideas, inconveniences and questions in a hectic outbreak of dialogue. The scene would be utter chaos: distorted sounds of disagreement, agreement and discovery about the art they had just watch unfold. Now imagine those twelve people possessing the same freedom to reflect but with a tablet, smart phone or laptop in their hand. Edit this post, the collaborative publishing tool designed by Lasse van den Bosch Christensen and Marlon Harder of the visual design studio Template, allows this active participation to take place through the typed word on one document in real time. At the moment, Edit this post is travelling with Moving Futures, the contemporary dance festival which is currently on a Grand Tour of cities in The Netherlands.
Contemporary art is often considered a fusion of the weird, the wacky and the wonderful.
Last Thursday evening both the performances at the Schouwburg theatre in Rotterdam and the collaborative writing project which succeeded it lived up to these expectations. Edit this post became accessible an hour after each performance encouraging an interactive critique on behalf of the viewers who were willing to contribute. Edit this post granted us the freedom to become editor and writer; an especially stimulating and energetic experience so soon after engaging with the show. The website offers open access to the document for a number of hours so that people could contribute to the text beyond the walls of the theatre.
Opening scene of Geisha performance.
Do Androids dream of electric sheet?
As I departed Rotterdam on the intercity, it was bizarre to see the text of a co-author appear across the screen and disappear just as quickly to be phrased differently.
in its form of casual dialogue was almost like a gateway into their stream of consciousness about romantic love, Japanese culture and the use of time and space on the performer’s behalf. In this playful literary format, the collaborative critique was diverse and lively ranging from the rhetorical question, narrative style interpretation, personal reflection, and the analysis of the spectacle and art of dance itself. As we are propelled through this hyper digital era; it is important to consider what this acceleration means for redefining literary form while remaining true to the principles of creativity.
Edit This Post is a perfect example of how the integration of technology can be transformative to the ‘natural’ practice of writing while at the same time responding to the political evolution of the cyborg generation.