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pubtheatres1 · 6 years

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WHAT YOU SAYIN? Lion and Unicorn Theatre 25 July and 26 July 2018 Part of Sparkfest ‘An inventive and delightfully funny imagining of the mind and its conflicts.’ ★★★ One mind, and yet many voices. A constant discourse of hopes and fears, joys and sorrows, anxiety and, well, singing. Whether it’s the latest chart single or an annoying jingle, the daily goings on of the human mind can be just as much about tunes as tumult, and WHAT YOU SAYIN’? presents both in a production that brings this exact internal hubbub alive. WHAT YOU SAYIN? combines tight choreography, expressive dance, spoken word and song to represent the mind’s thoughts. The multitude of ‘voices’ that make up a day’s thinking are given human form by Charlie Cocker and Kirra Robertson, who bring sound, form and movement to a brain’s inner workings. The humour is superbly pitched, as both performers play out the thought processes that accompany the awkward mundanity of life – from nervously arranging a date to forgetting someone’s name in the street. To this end, Charlie and Kirra display impressive comedy chops – mimicking and playing off each other with agility, timing, and infectious energy – no mean feat during such punishingly hot conditions! Regrettably, WHAT YOU SAYIN? does miss the opportunity to delve beyond its tantalising premise. There are several moments which suggest a deeper discussion about obsessive behaviours, neuroses, and depression, but these themes are only really hinted at. For example, the rubbish littering the stage that both actors feel obligated to tidy was an excellent touch – suggestive of the ways we try to ‘tidy’ unpleasant or unhelpful thoughts from our minds. However, the action is never quite explained nor resolved, and functions more to break up the action than as an insight into cognitive behaviour. WHAT YOU SAYIN? is an inventive and delightfully funny imagining of the mind and its conflicts. The mesh of creative styles and the exuberant ambition of its performers is exhilarating, even if its deeper meaning remains unsaid. Reviewer Alex Hayward is a playwright, poet and author of short fiction. Raised in the West Country, Alex moved to London to pursue an MA in literature at Queen Mary University of London and has not left since. His plays deal with themes of nationalism, trauma, and the limits of idealism.

#What You Sayin' Sparkfest Charlie Cocker Kirra Robertson Lion and Unicorn Review

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momadrake-blog · 11 years

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A Review of Two Digital History Conferences Recently Attended

In the last couple of weeks I’ve attended two very different conferences regarding the Digital Humanities (DH): The Dark Side of the Digital sponsored by the Century for 21st Century Studies (UWM) and Spark Fest - The Twin Cities Digital Humanities Symposium (UofM).

As suggested in the title, the Dark Side of the Digital contained presentations that delved into ethical issues surrounding authority, transparency, and privacy. However, Spark Fest, was more optimistic; it examined the ways in which humanities scholars are using the Digital to benefit both scholarship and the broader community. I would like to discuss each of these conferences in more detail and examine some of the more salient points brought up.

Spark Fest, held at the University of Minnesota, involved participants from diverse backgrounds (library science, programmers, historians, etc…) interested in how the digital humanities might advance scholarship as well as collaboration. Collaboration seemed to be the big buzz word of the conference. Attendees were very concerned with how to foster broader networks of collaboration. In my opinion, DH is a tool for doing this, but it seemed that many librarians were overwhelmingly represented and concerned with How to better foster DH projects conducted by faculty and narrowly within academia.

Important questions….for librarians. But as someone with a background in Public History and Museum Studies the power of DH, in my opinion, is in it’s ability to expand connections and collaboration outside of academia. The excitement for me, lies in engaging the general public to participate in the biography of things and the history of a community. I feel uncomfortable suggesting that three years of graduate work has prepared me to be the sole proprietor of information about, well, everything. I have come to feel very liberated in saying “I don’t know,” a product I believe of my years as a TA. But I think it’s an important lesson…”I don’t know” is a perfect spring-board to a shared authority. One in which I can feel comfortable facilitating.

The MVP of Spark Fest, in my opinion, was Mark Tebeau, an Associate Professor of History at Cleveland State University, who reiterated my sentiments in regards to DH - that it fosters collaboration within the wider human network. Tebeau along with other colleagues developed Curatescape, a mobile app framework for iOS & Android, designed to “curate the landscape” through the use of geo-located historical texts, archival film and images, oral history (and other) audio, and short documentary videos, as well as the website Cleveland Historical, a free mobile app that puts Cleveland history at your fingertips; Cleveland Historical lets you explore the people, places, and moments that have shaped the city’s history. These mobile apps are compatible with the content management software, Omeka. Situated on the internet, Omeka, a robust program that has the potential to allow visitors a chance to explore content discursively and even add content, has the capability of engaging those who may not otherwise be engaged with the history of a city, a biography of an object, or the collection of historical information broadly.

There were other amazing DH projects highlighted at the conference. The New York Public Library’s NYPL Labs developed the Stereogranimator, a tool for transforming historical stereographs from The New York Public Library and other participating organizations into shareable 3D web formats. The Stereogranimator is a fun tool for engaging the community; a good example of how to do DH outside the box.

Other interesting DH projects include the Guantanamo Public Memory Project, the Ancient Lives Project, and History Harvest among others.

The Dark Side of the Digital Conference, on the other hand, provided a word of caution against our hyper-connected society.

The keynote speaker, Julie Cohen, a professor at Georgetown who teaches and writes about intellectual property law and information privacy law, with particular focus on digital works and on the intersection of copyright and privacy rights, presented The networked self in the modulated society. Professor Cohen focused on several key questions. First, how is the network self configured? In relation to this first question she then asked whether or not the networked self sacrifices freedom for convenience in a digital realm of modulation and surveillance. Cohen questions the legality of obtaining, sharing, and regulating information. Finally, Cohen analyzes the forces shaping the networked self and the effect on the political economy. Cohen’s presentation was dense; too dense for me to sum up in a blog post. Fortunately, her presentation derived from her new book Configuring the Networked Self, from Yale University Press.

Other interesting presentations included Morgan Adamson’s work on the history of the Internet and its earliest conception as the NASDAQ stock system. Adamson suggested that NASDAQ allowed concrete abstractions to be made visible. The information contained on the NASDAQ stock exchange is supposed to suggest something to humans, however, the suggestion becomes a convoluted loop of financial projections that reiterate class domination and exploitation. This is important because, as Adamson stated in her presentation, this convoluted, abstract, and opaque system has been “mapped onto the entire world via pc and the web. in short, the genealogy of the Internet is inextricably linked to the financial market (Nasdaq network).

In conclusion, the difference between each conference does not suggest that attendees of one do not think or know about the issues brought up at the other, but it does signify the continued need to understand DH, a green and simultaneously emerging methodology and community. Attending each of these conferences within weeks of one another granted huge perspective. It allows me to be cautiously optimistic about DH rather than someone who blindly flails herself into the abyss of DH. I want to understand the world in which I create, this includes the promises and the pitfalls.

#dh #digitalhistory #digitalhumanities #sparkfest #C21 #conference

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