This project investigates how audience’s process of perception affects their experience of connection with a performer in a mixed reality environment. The audience’s own kinesthetic perception may be viewed as an integral part of their communication with the performer. The increased use of media on stage has challenged the audience’s positioning in relation to the performer, both physically and conceptually  but requires further refinement . We believe that an understanding of the audience-performer connection can support the development of a poetics of reception for the use of media on stage. We present a performance-based study designed to give audience members a heightened awareness of their perception with an emphasis on the motion happening in the space behind them: their ‘back-space’. Through this study we bring insight into the relationship between the audience’s experience of perception and their perceived connection to a performer.

Corness, G., Carlson, K., Schiphorst, T. (2011) ‘Audience Empathy: A Phenomenological Method for Mediated Performance’, The 8^th ACM Conference on Creativity and Cognition, In Press. Nominated for an Emma Award for Best Contribution to Creative Communication.