Recently, I've attended 2 shows that incorporate current internet chat programs, such as Skype, as an integral tool in installation and performance works. The first was "We build up.", by Marilyne Blais and Kate Moss; the second was "Some things should remain in Silence.", performed by Emilio Rojas.
The links provide more information:
Installation blog of "We Build Up." by Marilyne Blais and Kate Moss:
I included an apparent "installation" piece for performance discussion because the mirror image of similarly constructed spaces instigated a series of similar actions, performed by artists participating in the same work, but in separate locations. This set of actions created both the culmination of a real space and virtual space that encouraged public interaction with those present, throughout the work’s construction and at the show, up to the last day.
The conversations that ensued often commented on the similarity of construction and the allusion of extended deeper space. The treatment of the virtual space as an extended space was reinforced by the treatment of the screen as a window that precipitated communal interaction, rather than a surface to simply be viewed. The guided direction by those on the other side (pointing out elements), prompted further construction. The performers in this work were the artists and viewers alike.
Performance documentation of "Some Things Should Remain in Silence." by Emilio Rojas:
In the work of Emilio Rojas, the interaction is limited to his confession of many secrets, his own and other people’s, to his mother in Mexico. Emilio confesses secrets into a microphone, in Spanish.
Because the secrets he divulges are mixed with the secrets of others, it is improbable that she knows exactly which are his, although this is not important. It is not important because, as the title of the work states, “some things should remain in silence”. The secrets are, in a sense, irrelevant. We all have and keep secrets from our mothers, and it rarely, if ever, prevents them from loving us, in their own motherly way.
His mother acts as a stand-in for all mothers. When he confesses, she is the stoic, ever-present pillar that resembles the countenance of mother earth. She is the mother of all humanity, rather than a single child. She listens and absorbs the information of all children. She looks down upon Emilio as compassionate, concerned, afraid, and ultimately the void of the unknown, where the secrets eventually find their home. The audience is complicit in this sea of secrets.
-- Connie Freitas
