“Ból Trzeba Przeboleć” – Beata Sosnowska’s customizable performance

It was quite unexpected to see an example of mass customization at an art fair such as Re:Visions (independent art fair, finished yesterday night in Warsaw), but Beata Sosnowska’s “Ból Trzeba Przeboleć” could be considered one. The original title is very hard to translate to English and stands for something like: You Need to Stand the Pain. During the performance performer’s body is controlled by the viewer currently sitting behind the interface – a PC with images of several gestures to click on. Each click make the noisy speakers pronounce a particular letter. Each of the letters mean a particular movement, so performer’s dance becomes customizable (author’s own claim is that it could lead to a torture). Eventually, people where queuing up to the interface yesterday, since many wanted just a moment of interaction. This might be another example confirming that those once called viewers exhibit a need for getting involved, even if performing arts are considered.
Filed under: mass customization | 2 Comments
Tags: Michal Piasecki
You mean controlled via electrical impulses? What exactly was the “interface”?
The interface was a software displayed on a desktop PC. The software itself consisted only of out of icons – clicking on them caused a particular sound to start and then the artist reacted to the sound – in the same way each time. The interaction with the user and the performer wasn’t so “direct” (anyway, the definition of a “direct interaction” in case of mass customization is probably a blurry one)