Date of Award

8-2012

Level of Access Assigned by Author

Campus-Only Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

Department

Intermedia

Advisor

Owen Smith

Second Committee Member

Mike Scott

Third Committee Member

Marcia Douglas

Abstract

The everyday use, availability and familiarity with media and its technology, is influencing the everyday lives of human kind. It is changing how we communicate, associate, are entertained by, perceive and understand one another. Because of these new engagements with media, we are witnessing physical, sociological, communication, language and psychological changes as well as the inevitable change on the art form that has been traditionally the living mirror of human life: the Theatre. Because theater is inherently based upon humankind's actions, interactions and the world that exists around it, it cannot escape the present or the future. Theatre artists can hold tightly to traditional forms and structures maintaining invaluable historical integrity or they can continue the natural purpose of the art. They can grow, combining the old with the new by recognizing, understanding and utilizing its traditional forms and structures while investigating, engaging and adapting itself with the new forms and structures being made available to it. The nature of Theatre artists incorporates into their works the tools and influences of many crossover constructs and ideas. I believe as an artist I do not don just one hat, i.e. "I am a painter, a photographer, a performer..." It is imperative to engage inside and outside of the art world into other areas of investigation like science, cyber, philosophy, religion, mathematics, etc... to gather material and pertinent information for our creations. These inquiries and creative processes provide more enriching journeys and experiences benefiting both artists and observer. My art practice as an interdisciplinary artist is primarily focused on the "Intermedial" Art medium of Theatre, its influence on humankind and its place of import within it. I believe "Theatre" exists everywhere influencing all art, work, philosophy and play. My artistic practice amalgamates technology, Theatre and science while infusing interactivity into interdisciplinary oeuvres questioning paradigms of space, time, humor, impermanence, infinity, flux and "reality." The body of my work is primarily interactive, meditative and ritualistic — engagements that are as much a series of physical manifestations attempting re- references relating to the significance and purpose of being human. The audience response I seek concerning my work is not necessarily empathetic; my intent is more Brechtian in its scope and acuity. I create enabling experiences that remain open to one's own individual conclusions. The research addressed in this paper concerns my ongoing art practice, with its focus placed upon challenges and changes for the modern Theatre. The main subject is on media itself as an interactive, responsive actor in a live theatrical event. The practical implementation of this thesis will be produced in the form excerpts from an intermedial engagement incorporating live and media performances called "Brel on Brel."

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