2017
Collaborative new-media performance project
CMTV, Spokane WA
Real-time visualization using smartphones and tv & radio receiver, computer vision, Google Streetview, GPS
Directing, Staging, System, Interaction Design by Sangjun Yoo
with Partners Through Art Adaptations company
Choreographer: Karla Parbon
Dancers:Karla Parbon, Brooke Grissom, Melanie S Williams
Music from: Rhys Chatham, James Arthur, Ann Imhof
nevertheless is a collaborative performance that explores empathy, communication, and digital embodiment in contemporary screen culture. The 40-minute piece unfolds in six sequences, integrating choreography, improvisation, and live data visualization. Three of these sequences directly involve smartphones as performative instruments, while the remaining movements depict the still, absorbed gestures of everyday screen users. Through this structure, the work translates the habitual postures of the digital age into collective reflection, turning the smartphone into both subject and medium of performance.
Dancers interact with their devices by capturing selfies, voices, and movement, which are transmitted in real time to a projection interface. The data is processed through face recognition and sound modulation algorithms, generating evolving visual and auditory feedback. Layered voices, repeated gestures, and emerging synthesized tones produce a sense of polyvocality that blurs the boundary between individual and collective expression. By transforming routine acts of media use into shared sensory experience, nevertheless reimagines the smartphone as a site of empathy and resonance, revealing how digital tools can mediate both isolation and connection in contemporary life.
Special thanks to Laboratory Residency in Spokane WA, CMTV for the generous use of their space and Spokane Arts for funding support.
