Projects
There are currently two main research-creation productions under the Liveness umbrella: The OTHER Market, produced in Montreal with input from our collaborators ZU-UK in London; and Radio Ghost produced by ZU-UK with input from the Montreal team.
Both productions use three player teams, evoke ghosts, and look at objects of consumption. ZU-UK refer to the Japanese concept of Tsukumogami, the Shinto belief that suggests all objects have a spirit, and this idea might also be said to apply to The OTHER Market. Crucially, both productions also experiment with ways to integrate the live /physical and the digital. The OTHER Market is structured to promote emergent gameplay or interaction, while Radio Ghost privileges instruction led participation.
These projects were part of a SSHRC funded grant program entitled “Sustaining Liveness in Participatory Experiences” (2019-2023). Given its very physical and social focus, the research was complicated by the COVID 19 pandemic, and we were unable to do a third, planned production in Tampere, Finland. However, we did a presentation on the other productions at the Tampere Spring seminar (2023).
