IN TIME
The Project
A performance for one. A mortal stumbles into the workshop of Janus, the two-headed goddess of doorways and openings. To scare or lure the mortal away, Janus conjures up humanity’s past primal fears, and future aspirational hopes. A Universal Opening, the veil between mortal and immortal worlds, manifests itself and goddess and human see each other for the first time.
This project is a told through three versions of the story with three different veils between the immortal & mortal worlds. The single audience member can experience one, or all three, in any order. A combination of physical performance, shadow, puppetry, VR exploration, and projection mapping.
Artists
The Residency
Before the DDI
Coming into the week, the In Time team were inspired by the concept of gods and archetypes and how they are accessible to the general human experience but are expressed so differently among peoples. After researching various myths and legends they decided to tell the story of Janus, the two headed god of passages who had been tasked by the god of destiny to create a universal opening. Janus was working on this universal opening when a human traveler walked into their cave and refused to move. Wanting them to leave, Janus turned their past face towards the human and showed all the horrors that have scared people out of caves but the human didn’t budge. Janus then turned their future face to the traveler and showed them all things that draw people out of caves but still the human didn’t leave. While this was happening the universal opening formed in the shape of a circle and rose between the two of them, allowing each one to see the other.
It was important for the group to think about the ways that this story could be looked at and contextualized depending on the experience of the individual experiencing it. One avenue that was discussed that was perhaps Janus exists in a space with no time and when the universal opening rises they are able to look into a portal with a complete new reality; for many Indigenous folks it feels like they are living in a different post apocalyptic scenario compared to much of society and this could be mirrored throughout the piece.
They were also hopeful that through these digital explorations that they would be able to open new narrative doors and answer some questions they had been thinking about such as how VR transforms a story and is that transformation a net positive or negative. Other points of interest for the week included an examination of what different digital tools excel at as well as work towards creating language that exists in the intersection of tools and narrative and that can hopefully be impactful to Indigenous communities and youth.
Prior to the DDI residency week they had built a prototype of a visual space and ran several short performances to test out different narrative concepts. After these experimentations they were intrigued to test out more digital elements such as using VR to create beautiful natural organic environments and it is the hope that there is an exploration of Indigenous futurism in the design work.
The group posited that technology has a generalizing effect on art, a movie stays the same each time it is viewed while a piece of theatre changes per performance. It was their hope that through their investigations during the DDI that they would be able to create a piece that is reactive and dynamic, one that creates an organic experience that is unique to the solitary audience member experiencing it.
Price was identified as one of the primary roadblocks as well as how to work using digital means in a constantly changing landscape of different tools, methodologies and concepts. The group was very cognisant that when digital technology is used as a cost saving measure instead of as a tool for dramaturgically sound design that it is often unsuccessful and feels disappointing as an audience member. The story will be experienced by one person at a time and it is the hope that while the audience member will not be intentionally engaging the narrative that they will be receptive and required as a story element.
During the residency
Much of the residency week was spent in a place of rapid prototyping. The team worked with scale models of potential concepts to flush out ideas and get a sense of how the tools work in a tangible way. This combined with the expert consultations led to a general increase in knowledge of the scope of what technology is out there and what options exist for the integration into art. The ability to learn about a tool and then try it to some degree allowed for a chance for the group to feel how different technologies and choices could affect the audience in a visceral sense.
In one of the consultations, Hugh Conacher mentioned that when rear projecting the light is entering the audience's eyes directly while with front projection it is bouncing off an object. This subtle difference in feeling was a concept that stuck with the group and they started to experiment with what it would look like to have a performer emit their own light, or manipulate the light around them. This really started to crystallize when paired with a consultation about wearables and how wearables on the audience member or the performer could be used to trigger lights, sounds and projections. The idea that wearable technology, that could become seamless and effectively invisible, could create a level of connection between the performer and the audience member beyond that could be created with conventional means was a very exciting discovery for the team.
It was discovered that projection would take a major role in this project and there was a desire to create spaces that could be transformed completely by projection from one moment to another. The team quickly created a scale model of the cave wall by scrunching up tyvek, creating different protrusions and textures. They were then able to create and map illustrations back unto the physical environment, heighting the typography and creating an environment that feels solid but can shift through animation. It was discovered through these experimentations that high contrast images worked best to create the desired effect. They then moved onto creating 3D forms out of tyvek that could be internally lit as well as being projected on.
The group also experimented with projecting on other unconventional materials such as smoke and sand. The sand pit and drop was a successful proof of concept and they were able to create a sense of three dimensionality with the falling sand particles. The smoke was much less successful because the group used a hazer to generate their smoke and found that it did not create anything thick enough to project and image on, the haze instead just illuminated the beams of the projector.
There were also many discoveries around hardware limitations and what sort of price points the computers commonly running video designs come at as well as figuring out what they can or might want to do themselves vs what they might need to bring in other experts to help with. In addition to the more physical based exploration, there was some work done with an oculus and 360 camera to prototype potential VR elements.
Post Residency
The group has ongoing research questions regarding how to integrate images, bodies, and wearable technologies. They are interested in creating further material that uses wearables to extend the possibilities of both bodies and movement in space, using technology to enhance the work. They will also continue with experimentation with Oculus, 3-D cameras and Isadora.
As a team, they found that being in the room with the technology, being able to test ideas as they came really helped solidify the story beats in unexpected ways and they are excited to explore what elements are going to be exposed in different ways. The overall narrative began to make a lot more sense as they played with the tech and it is the hope that in the future it will continue to develop in this holistic way. Going forward they are much more confident in the concept of isadora and projection mapping as well as knowing what to ask for from a space to continue their work.
In their exit interview, they discussed how since audience members know that theatre is fake, it gives it so much more room to move into the fantastical. It is the teams hope that through projection and wearables that they can create an experience that is truly magical for one audience member at a time.
Knowing how to use all the tools to create the space that they want to create remains a roadblock for the team. As does the programming side of wearables of projection mapping.
In Time was presented in December 2021 with Theatre Projects Manitoba.
Tools Used
VR
Projection
Isadora
360 camera
