GLOBAL LASER / KICKOFF Pandemic Encounters ::: being[ together] in the deep third space
A Networked Performance Installation by Paul Sermon
in collaboration with Randall Packer, Gregory Kuhn & the Third Space Network
Pandemic Encounters is a networked performance installation inhabited by the live chroma-figure of Paul Sermon. Participants are invited to enter into the deep third space to engage & perform a ritual action as a reflection on the Covid-19 state of being[together] remotely. Each action has its own form: an artistic expression, a scientific analysis, a poetic rendering, a political manifesto, a social critique, a dystopic cry of distress, a subtle movement, a moment of catharsis, or a call in the night from some distant corner of the world. Pandemic Encounters is a collective/creative response to a global pandemic that has triggered an unfolding metamorphosis of the human condition.
BACKGROUND
In this perilous time, we are witnessing the global phenomenon of a migration into the third space with unknown existential ramifications. We find ourselves, en masse, in a strange new world, a new medial landscape, like a hall of mirrors, gazing at reflections of ourselves + others through the lens of the ubiquitous Webcam. We have been forced into this telematic world to remove and isolate ourselves from the hellish outside reality of the pandemic. The third space has become for many a safe haven from a world turned upside down, a safety net, or a buffer zone to salvage and resurrect human contact – virtually – while remaining separated by distance & geography.
Pandemic Encounters is intended to collectively explore the implications of this migratory transition into the third space. Even when we return to the so-called normal, we will be changed, when social interaction & human engagement will have undergone a radical transformation. Who knows what this new world will look like, and who knows to what degree our social behaviors, interactions, intimacies, and creative actions will have been forever altered & reconfigured.
For more information visit: https://thirdspacenetwork.com/pandemic-encounters/
LASER
(Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous) is Leonardo/ISAST’s international program of evening gatherings that bring artists and scientists together to provide the general public with a snapshot of the cultural environment of a region and to foster interdisciplinary networking. To learn more about how our LASER Hosts and to visit a LASER near you please visit our website.
