SHOWING WITHOUT GOING

Connections

Platform building 

Approaches

Programming a 'Showing without Going' festival is not restricted to 'online versions' of offline work. Can we imagine a full-scale, international theatre festival in the vein of Avignon, Buenos Aires or Edinburgh where all the work is by artists who, for whatever reason, have not travelled to be there? Given the breadth of possibility visible here, it seems clear that we can. 

#process 

Statements

We must consider data and privacy laws, and how we store and discard this information especially with approaches that collect data from audiences/participants. As well as the use of third party apps and sharing of data between audiences in approaches that require an audience to interact via systems that register information in this way.

Spectrums
Artist
Host

Spectrums
Fixed / pre-recorded
Live / responsive

Spectrums
Offline
Online

Examples
National Arts Festival - South Africa

https://nationalartsfestival.co.za/participate-in-vfringe-2020/

In the move to a Virtual National Arts Festival 2020, which was largely motivated by a desire to support artists to earn income and gain exposure, we have created the vFringe, a digital platform for artists to share their work with home-based audiences. The vFringe accommodates a ticketed video-on-demand platform, a visual art directory, a virtual green trading space for crafters, and an advertising space for live events held on third-party platforms.

Examples
International Festival of Contemporary Theatre

http://2020.homonovus.lv/homonovus.lv/eng/index.html

In 2020 when most of the festivals were cancelled or moved online, Homo Novus offered a collection of works that were based on approaches presented here.  Regardless of international travel restrictions, Homo Novus programme was international thanks to foreign artists who accepted festival's invitation to work from their homes, be it Central London or Mexican countryside, in close collaboration with local co-creators and performers, often leading their voices and ideas to be central in their work. Those were either new works or adaptations of existing ideas that acquired new features thanks to the involvement of local co-creators, be it artists, audience or the city.