The Xenakis networked performance marathon 2022 (sustainable resources)

Abstract

This article examines the conceptual, aesthetic, and technical aspects of a collaborative, multi-sited performance in the main Dance Studio classroom of Athens Conservatoire, presenting sixteen pieces from artists in ten different countries in the span of eight hours, as part of the Meta-Xenakis Symposium held in 2022. The performance strategies include motion sensing, live-coding, and environmental integration, conceived under the imperatives of frugal innovation, in the sense of establishing low-impact practices for the assembling of hardware and software resources, and for the presentation of the event both with the Athens Conservatoire and as a street performance that formed part of a complementary collaborative project. The article discusses in detail the modifications (hacks) of low-cost hardware and open-source software used in the project, together with a discussion of the telematic procedures and aesthetic paradigms used to link the various sites.