“Practicing Odin Teatret’s Archives: Virtual Translations of Embodied Knowledge Through Archival Practices” presented by La Selva and Marouda
Symposium:
Session Title:
- Summit on New Media Art Archiving: Long Papers
Presentation Title:
- Practicing Odin Teatret’s Archives: Virtual Translations of Embodied Knowledge Through Archival Practices
Presenter(s):
Venue(s):
Abstract:
Informed by contemporary research in performance studies, this writing examines the ongoing challenges and possibilities of using XR technologies to create a virtual archive of embodied theatre techniques. This is part of a research project working with the (analogue) archive of Odin Teatret in Denmark, in which we are facing the challenge of transferring the embodied knowledge of actors’ training into a virtual navigation system which evokes interaction and affect. We begin by outlining a critical epistemological framework which calls for new accounts of knowledge distribution and the place of embodied and affective praxis within this frame. We describe the process of having different training strands from practitioners of Odin and pupils being mapped with the use of motion capture technology. Further on, we approach one of the key aspects of this research, that of the translation of such embodied techniques and movement qualities into data and, consequently, into an immersive experience of archival navigation. With this paper we aim to contribute to the discussion on documentation of embodied knowledge in present times, one which calls for new approaches to practices of transmission, archive interaction and embodied navigation.
