Assignment 4: DJ Skype Performance
Would you attend a party where your DJ performs live, but is potentially over thousands of miles away? I will explore this question and more in this experimental Skype-based art performance.
Artist Statement
Almost anything can be done remotely these days. Many of us can remote into our work computer from home in order to get those papers we forgot to email ourselves the night before, or we can control our home thermostat for our cats while we're enjoying our vacation hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Distance is becoming less of an issue for family and friends around the world, where we can -- at a tap of a screen -- FaceTime or start a Google Hangout in order to make Christmas plans or even to watch a movie together. Each year technology evolves to remove the barriers and drawbacks often found in this Internet and computer-mediated communication. Before you know it, you can hire a famous DJ from Ibiza to perform in your living room, if you ever felt so inclined. Doesn't seem that far fetched nowadays, does it?
This project seeks to explore this concept. As a professional DJ, I know no other way to entertain an audience than to be physically at the show. I'm used to driving, at times, hundreds of miles away from home to be there in the flesh -- with my sound system and lights in tow. I almost couldn't imagine this being done any other way, until today.
Utilizing an Internet-connected computer and Skype, I will perform my first remote DJ show. My audience will be my classmates, all of which will be located in another location on campus. They'll be watching me through a connected projector. I will be able to communicate with them through Skype in order to teach them a popular dance that I often teach at my live shows known as the Cha Cha Slide. I suspect that the interactivity this performance requires in-person will truly test the limits of the technology available today. Will the audience respond well to my attempts to break the ice? Or will my performance fall flat, turning me into a cheesy DJ dancing alone in a dark room? There's only one way to find out...