Xtra - rp18 side events
12:00 - 14:00
12:00 - 14:00
12:00 - 14:00
English
Action
Everyone
Performance: Restart

Short thesis

Restart is an interactive performance for a single participant and their Smartphone. The participants are invited to an experience that would make them rethink the relationship with their digital device. The ritual's structure was inspired by various cleansing rituals from around the world, with an added digital twist.

- RE:LAXATION ROOM -

Description

Maya Magnat is a performance artist that focuses on digital performance. Her work deals with mediated intimacy, interactive art and games. She is interested in finding new ways to create intimacy using technology. In her new piece, Maya invites the audience to take part in a symbolic act of purification.

Purification rituals are widespread in many different cultures around the world. Their purpose is to cast out negative energies, to renew and to cleanse. During the development of the performance Maya have met with healers and leaders of ceremonies who taught her of the purification rituals they hold, and with that inspiration she built a digital purification ritual.

Our phones are an inseparable part of us, another organ, another limb, another element in our bodies. However, we are used to taking them for granted. The purification ritual allows us to pause for a moment, rest and reflect on our relationship with our digital devices. Are we happy with the place they occupy in our lives? Would we like to change it? With the help of calming music, pleasant scents and a series of ritualistic cleansing actions we will create a space in which to raise these questions and answer them honestly.

The duration of the performance is about 10 minutes in which each participant is invited to sit across from Maya on the floor and give their phone, and themselves, for cleansing.

The creation of the performance was inspired by the performance works of Adrian Howells. It was presented at "Print Screen" festival for digital culture and at "Cuckoo's Nest" gallery.

Speakers