into the machine box
into the machine box is a performance that attempts to explore the question of typography displayed in the scenic space, where I try to answer the question ‘what extensive settings of typography can serve to develop the sensory experience received by an audience?’.
Through this project, I seeked to study the responses generated by the polyphony created by the presence of both written and spoken dialogue, trying to reveal how the act of writing text on a computer, in its performative manifestation, reinvents and enriches the theatrical experience.
It tells the story of two girls, Quinte and Dith, as they meet online. They travel through both the real world and the fantasised, avatarised world of an online text game.
The performance uses web creation as a support for its narrative. In the background, we can read my characters (who are present but not physically present) conversing, in parallel with the oral narration that guides the main rhythm of the performance.
In fact, I’ve developed interfaces that are a direct reference to those of a chat room, drawing more particularly on the world of online roleplay. I’m trying to turn the screen into a stage on the stage, where the dialogue exists through typographic extensions and provides a link between the real and simulated personalities. Online encounters feature text as a witness to our presence, and exploring it allows me to question the use of typographic rules defined by national printing houses.
Thanks to iMAL for their curiosity for the project, to my friend T for letting me water his plants last summer so I could use his space to rehearse && to Oyé Label and Atom Festival for allowing me to take into the machine box outside of my apartment.
I would love to perform into the machine box again. I also sometimes play a radio version.
