Synchronised Touch; a hybrid (syn)aesthetic composition in Eternal Return. How to choreograph touch?

Abstract

This thesis explores the notion of "synchronised touch" in mixed reality performance, exemplified in the case study Eternal Return. Approaching this performance, following Josephine Machon, as a (syn)easthetic composition, allows me to pay attention to the multitude of entangled levels that are at play in this case study. Researching the performance of the senses is central in this thesis, in particular the underexposed sense of touch. The spectatorship experience consists a very specific sense of presence for a spectator: the feeling of being present in the virtual world and physical world simultanuously. How is a sense of presence produced in this mixed reality environment? This thesis draws attention to immersion as an embodied experience in Eternal Return. Furthermore, this thesis explores how the trajectory (route through the performance) is constructed and choreographed, creating encounters between a performer and spectator to unfold. The artists Lundahl & Seitl and co-artists of ScanLAB create and play between the physical and virtual, the spectator and performer and the senses, generating an embodied form immersion in mixed reality where performance as a medium becomes essential.