After previous group discussions, we continued the idea of incorporating the concept of the butterfly effect into the art performance installation. However, as we developed the theme further, we found that we needed to use a more specific backstory to guide the audience through the installation, to help them understand how the performance installation would evolve and to encourage them to understand the narrative and emotions that were intended to be expressed.

During this group discussion, we re-established a more specific theme and structure for the art performance installation, and the following are the details of our meeting.

 

Background

By thinking about the butterfly effect, we can imagine the thought-provoking consequences of a small change. Similarly, in the family, small demands made by a mother on her children can have a profound impact on their lives. We decided to use the film Höstsonaten ( Auntumn Sonata) as a backstory to display the inner world of the main character Eva under the influence of her mother, Charlotte.

Name for Performance

“Invisible Strings”

Performance Structure

The film’s plot fragments are used as a starting point to frame a three-part performance scene.

The first part is a situational introduction in which a performer sings a live whisper that symbolises her mother’s harsh teaching and verbal violence towards Eva. The particles are projected on the screen in real-time according to the changes in the whispers and finally form a line that leads the participants to the next performance area.

The following section is a performance area with a tangle of black and white strings hung with bells, where a performer dances around the performance area in response to the whispers, and the movement drives the bells on the lines to ring.

The last performer plays the piano in a quadrilateral performance area covered by a translucent curtain, where the piano piece played is Chopin’s Piano Sonata No. 2, which appears in the film. The piano used for the performance is made of a wire-wrapped iron frame, not a real piano, and will be shown in its true form by removing the translucent curtain at the end of the performance.

The image below is a visual reference of the last performance area.

URL-http://https://pin.it/5VWuUau

 

Performance Venue

As the instructions for switching between the three performance areas are to be done by controlling the lighting, we are tentatively planning to arrange the performance in a spacious indoor (dark environment), and the West Court is a more suitable choice, but the decision has yet to be confirmed.

Upcoming work

Having established the parts of the group that each member will be responsible for, we will further search for references (primarily academic literature on technical aspects), draw up user flow and create a mood board according to our division of labour.

Feb 6, 2023

First Meeting：

One of the four members of the performance group was Xiaozhuang Gao, Crystal Wu and Shutong Liu from design and digital media, and Lerong Qi from sound design. The first group discussion was a continuous collision and divergence of ideas, from one topic to another, with the process of overturning and reconstructing, finally landing on the concept of the “butterfly effect”, which is now described in the minutes of this meeting.

Inspiration 1: Plants

In the first meeting, the topic of plants was discussed – plants themselves are rich in visuals, both in terms of their characteristics and their veins and roots.

Referring to the artist Thijs Biersteker’s art installation using plants as a vehicle, in which he expresses the impact of data pollution on our lives through the effect of carbon dioxide exhaled by the participants on the plants, we wondered whether the internal changes that occur when plants are confronted with performers could be quantified and visualised to create new patterns or new plants, thus reflecting on the relationship between man and nature. The relationship between man and nature. Up to this point, our thinking had been very limited and monotonous, and there was a big gap in terms of technical means and forms.

http://xhslink.com/pWmHkn

Inspiration 2: The Butterfly Effect

 

Although the discussion on the topic of plants was not fully developed, the overall conceptual framework made us think that whether it is the influence of people on plants that develops into a larger social topic in an artwork, or the insignificant inspiration and ideas of each of us that will eventually be updated and iterated into an installation, this phenomenon made us The butterfly effect seems to exist everywhere in the world, it is common, romantic and thought-provoking.

 

Building on the previous idea, we thought about the possibility of collecting the sound of the performers as a loop when they create a bit of sound, and influencing the media material to change dynamically or visually, collecting its dynamic data and eventually creating a visual effect like a tsunami. Although the subject matter and realizability of the project still needs to be discussed, the group members all expressed their interest in the topic and are willing to continue to develop it, and we will conduct more research to develop our ideas.

 

Feb 6, 2023