'The more performance is expressed by technical means, the more chance it has of being removed from the theatre or theatricality; the more it withdraws from representation into simple presentation; the more it draws away from aura into simple actuality; the more it withdraws away from classical presence to assert a new and different presence, a radical presence.' (Pontbraid 1982: 156)

PAOLO ROSA (STUDIO AZZURRO)

'I had become aware how paradoxically the more objects tend to lose their material essence, dissolve their physical nature into flux and data, the more they tend to disappear, the more their ‘presence’ gains ground.' (Rosa in Valentini 1995: 160)

'(...) Reduced to its essence, presence is about interest and command of attention, not space or liveness. (...) Let us consider a hypothetical live performer standing next to an exactly life-size, recorded, two-dimensional projection of herself (...). If both figures are still and neutral, one might agree that the live performer has more presence (by virtue her solidity, her liveness). But once either of the figures engages in activity (including concentrated thought) it will pull focus to it, gain attention, and assert its presence over the other. When both become active, the one we watch more (our attention will always flit between them), the one with the most presence, is the one engaged in what we find personally the more interesting or emotive activity. In this sense, presence in relation to audience engagement and attention is dependent on the compulsion of the audiovisual activity, not on liveness or corporeal three-dimensionality.' (Dixon, 2007: 132)

References