{"id":816,"date":"2013-08-15T03:11:51","date_gmt":"2013-08-15T03:11:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/?p=816"},"modified":"2013-11-19T06:59:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-19T06:59:43","slug":"interview-with-artist-investigator-desdemona-chiang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/interview-with-artist-investigator-desdemona-chiang\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Artist-Investigator Desdemona Chiang"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Triangle Lab recently sat down with Artist-Investigator Desdemona Chiang to discuss her QR code project. Read below for her discussion of technology, new play development, and participatory theatre.\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n

Triangle Lab: Could you start with briefly describing your project?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Desdemona Chiang: \u202aSure. The project is essentially a site-specific installation of QR codes in the SOMA neighborhood of SF. Each code uncovers a piece of a story that will take audiences on a journey through the area. It\u2019s part theatre, part tour, part game.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aSo did you initially envision this as an exploration of where or how?\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aI initially thought of this as a how project, because I was really interested in the utilization of mobile technology and cell phones as a way of engaging audiences in storytelling. But the more I get into the project, the more I\u2019m finding that it\u2019s taking on a very strong \u201cwhere\u201d personality as well.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aHow so?\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aI\u2019m realizing that while the piece is using QR codes as the form, the content is so specific to the locations\u2013I\u2019m working with two playwrights to create the story, and we\u2019re connecting the locations of the QR codes to the plot, so it\u2019s taking on a very San Francisco quality, almost like an introduction to the community via a play.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aWhat originally drew you to using QR codes for your project? Has your relationship with this new technology changed while working on this?\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aI\u2019m fascinated by how cell phones (smartphones in particular) have completely revolutionized social interactions. And it\u2019s completely changed how we function as humans, and our sense of identity. My phone knows more about me than I do. It has all the contact info for my friends, it knows what my agenda is for the day, it has pictures of my family and loved ones\u2013it remembers stuff about me so that I don\u2019t have to. And I use my smartphone to text\/talk to other people\u2019s smartphones rather than actually calling and talking myself. It\u2019s really interesting, this idea of the \u201cvirtual\u201d me. So I wanted to see how this behavior could translate into storytelling. And QR codes were the most efficient and accessible method I could think of.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aYour project has a very strong participatory component\u2014something that the Triangle Lab is very interested in exploring\u2014how has this changed the way you approached this play in contrast with more traditional pieces (with little or no participatory elements)?\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aThis is the first time I\u2019ve ever tried creating a theatre piece that is interactive, but strangely enough, I\u2019m still developing it using the same tools I have for directing a straight theatre play. I\u2019m still thinking about things like plot, action, how one event leads to the next event in the story. I guess the only difference is that the audience has the option of disengaging if they don\u2019t like it instead of being stuck in the theatre for two hours.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aDo you foresee this experiment becoming a model for new play development (or a tool)?\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aI hope so. I\u2019m not sure what that future model is, though. What this project has the potential to do is take the burden of creation off of a single playwright, and make it more about crowd sourcing. One of the things I\u2019m thinking about in the next incarnation of this project is how audience participation can change the story itself. I think I\u2019ll know more about that once I see how people respond to this version. Trying to take things one step at a time.\u202c<\/p>\n

TL: \u202aThank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today, best of luck on the rest of your project!\u202c<\/strong><\/p>\n

DC: \u202aOf course\u2013thanks for chatting with me!\u202c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Triangle Lab recently sat down with Artist-Investigator Desdemona Chiang to discuss her QR code project. Read below for her discussion of technology, new play development, and participatory theatre.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[33],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-triangle-lab"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=816"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/816\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.desdemona.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}