Attempts on Margarita (multiple drafts): A cognitive dramaturgy generated by voice and space

Abstract

In the dynamic contemporary theatre and performance landscape of ‘immersive’, hybrid and interactive production where the boundaries between public and private, performance space and audience space intertwine, alternate or even disappear, scenography is referred to as a process. The above observation poses a series of questions regarding the critical frameworks that could be used in order to analyse scenography as process and the methods that might be employed to contribute to the creation of dynamic scenographic landscapes where the audience becomes an active co-author of the work. Through my practice-led research at the University of Leeds I am suggesting a method of staging dynamic scenographic systems using current cognitive theories of consciousness (Baars, Dennett, Edelman and Tononi). These performancesystems engage with the concepts of process, integration of information and complexity inviting the participants to interact in a dynamic bottom-up way with the work. In the piece ‘Work Space I- a scenographic workshop on consciousness’ I appropriated Baars’ diagram of consciousness known as the Global Workspace [3] to create a workshopinstallation in which the participants are invited to share the experience of a performance-game and contribute to the handson creation of a multi-authorial artwork. By reflecting on the above work, which draws and explores the notion of embodiment and the ‘socially collaborative, culturally and materially grounded nature of the human mind’ I focused on the ‘dialogue through making’ that occurred during the time of the workshop. In another practice-led investigation ‘ Work Space II - Attempts on Margarita (multiple drafts)’ I am drawing from Martin Crimps' postdramatic work 'Attempts on her Life' and the cognitive theories of consciousness by Dennett, delman and Tononi in order to create a multi-layered cognitive dramaturgy in the form of an installation space. A current view on the hard problem of consciousness, largely initiated by neuroscientist/psychiatrist Giulio Tononi, is that ‘wherever there's information processing, there's consciousness’ In the piece ‘Attempts on Margarita (multiple drafts)’ aim is to generate a collective consciousness in the form of a durational, sound installation by mixing information such as pre-recorded and live - stream voices generated by three types of participants: P1: a) Friends/colleagues/acquaintances of mine and b) random passers-by in the university campus who answer the same set of questions regarding ‘Margarita’. P2: Participants-audience who attended the installation.