Home is a private place. A place, where we are the person we are nowhere else. An area for intimate practices – like being naked, Googling ex-partners, leaving the toilet door open. One could argue, that being on stage is the absolute opposite of being at home: a space to expose yourself to an audience while performing well rehearsed or calculated actions. Britney Spears’ song “Circus” has a lyric line that says:
There’s only two kinds of people in this world. The kind that entertain, and the ones that observe. Is it really that simple? Either we’re the voyeur or the exhibitionist? The digital changes of our times have had a significant effect on what we regard as private or public, on what the intimate is. The Internet has opened a door into our most private spaces and virtuality has infiltrated our everyday being; from our friendships, to our work, to our sexuality – in fact, having sexual contact online has become the norm for many. Platforms like CAM4 allows anyone with access to the Internet to watch, consume and offer encounters. In her performance ALL EYES ON Teresa Vittucci explores the borders of those publicly private or privately public spaces we call “home” and “internet” by bringing them both into a third space, the space of the “theatre”. As a performer on stage, camgirl online and host in both spaces Teresa invites everybody into her intimate space. While stretching questions of power, subjectification and desire, there is a constant negotiation with what is uncontrollable: while the chatroom feeds the performance with spontaneous and unknown content, Teresa constantly re-composes the performance. The audience becomes a witness to the fragile moment in which Teresa encounters strangers online.
As they watch, their point of view slips into that of the voyeur’s, and they suddenly get the impression that they are seeing everything as it actually happens. But how much of what is happening is real?
CREDITS
concept / performance Teresa Vittucci
dramaturgical advice Simone Aughterlony, Marc Streit, Jasmin Wiesli
scenography Jasmin Wiesli
technical direction / light Lukas Sander
video / tech support Alper Yagcioglu
production management Kira Koplin // groundworkers.at
production OH DEAR! Zürich
coproduction Tanzhaus Zürich
kindly supported by Stadt Zürich Kultur, Fachstelle Kultur Kanton Zürich, Fondation Néstle pour L’Art, Pro Helvetia
Grand Studio Brussels, Südpol Luzern, Les Urbaines Festival, zürich moves! Festival