One of Blast Theory’s earliest performances was Invisible Bullets in 1997. The performance surrounded a murder taking place which was re-enacted a number of times in many different styles. These styles ranged from a pop video, parody to the performers wearing just underwear etc. The re-enactments were performed over 12 hours where the audience could come and go. Blast Theory used an unused pedestrian prescient and transformed the space into a viewing site for this performance. Although in an unusual setting the audience was set up in an average seating arrangement, this may be due to health and safety restrictions. Due to this seating arrangement there is an obvious divide between audience and performer which is unfamiliar in most other Blast Theory performances for example GhostWriter.
GhostWriter was conducted in 2011 at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum. The participants phoned a phone number which lead them to a recording of woman describing, questioning and telling them stories of art work and artefacts within the museum. The woman’s voice lead the participants around the space and encouraged them to explore more of the space than they would have normally. In this performance there is irony as they are using something so present like technology to explore our past. It also breaks the conventions of normal performance with the ‘audience’ actually being participants and being the focus within the performance.
Both performances are documented through Blast Theory’s websites and videos that are also accessible through their website.
Bibliography.
Blast Theory (2015) Invisible Bullets – Video. [online] Available from http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/invisible-bullets-video/ [Accessed 8 February 2015]
Blast Theory (2015) Ghostwriter [online] Available from http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/projects/ghostwriter/ [Accessed 8 February 2015]
Image from: http://tuukkanen.net/wp-content/low-anti-11-blast-theory-511.jpg
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