Check out this amazing TED Talk by the Handspring Puppet Company the people behind the extraordinary production, War Horse. If you don't have time to watch the whole thing, scoot through to about the 9 minute mark to see the horse in action - it will take your breath away.
I've recently subscribed to the New York Times technology blog and already I feel better informed! A Parent's Struggle With A Child's iPad Addiction got me thinking about different ways kids learn and express their creativity and the comment trail led me to MIT's Lifelong Kindergarten where I found this fantastic program called, 'Singing Fingers'. Have you heard about this? Check out the clip above - amazing.
Powerhouse have just completed a very interesting project called China Heart, a mobile app they describe as a 'locative mobile story/ game that is part love story, part mystery...meshing video, real-world art installation and performance with a rich GPS gaming experience' which also 'takes players on a walking tour of significant locations in Sydney's Chinatown'. I think we're going to see a lot more of this type of project. If you're intersted in how they made it all happen there's a detailed post here.
...and finally, I loved this Gen X ode to the passing of an era, The Fading Sounds of Analogue Technology (although I really don't miss that modem connection screech!).
Can something as ephemeral as performance really ever be 'captured' or it really just a case of trying to nail jelly to the wall? Having been personally involved (often unsuccessfully) in trying to convince performers, directors, musicians and unions of the importance of preserving their archival performance footage I know by heart all the excuses for not doing so.
'It was only a dress rehearsal not a real performance'
'It was only a single camera shoot',
'It doesn't capture the spirit of the performance',
'You'll never get such and such to sign a release form'
While I sympathise with these concerns I'm glad to see that there are three exciting digital projects out there at the moment trying to resolve some of these issues.
The first is the remarkable Digital Theatre featuring performances the Royal Court Theatre,Young Vic and Almeida Theatre among others. If you haven't already read it this article in The Age recently shows just how far we have come in being able to document live perfomance in a real and meaningful way.
Another interesting site using digital technology to document/discuss theatre in a different way is Theatre VOICE . The site was set up in 2003 in association with the Theatre Museum at the V&A and features 100s of audio recordings about theatre in the UK through the eyes of critics and theatre practitioners.
Closer to home, the Performing Arts Collection is involved in a three year ARC Linkage project that aims to 'create and analyse an experimental prototype for an online participatory ‘living archive’, built upon the Circus Oz collection of performance and rehearsal video documentation, to drive innovations in repertoire development, performance research and audience interaction'.
