I have been awarded a micro residency to research ideas for digital tools that would enable a different experience of and dimension to my LGBT history project Move Over Darling.  The idea is to put sound recordings at the heart of the experience, and alongside the already existing live element of a guided walk.  These tracks, already archived, are of older people I interviewed about their memories of Gay and Trans life in Bristol in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.

In the latest version of the performance-walk, these recordings are only present at the end, when the audience sits in a recreation of a 1960’s bar. However, it feels important to add their voices throughout the whole performance journey, so that they are really at the heart of the piece.

 

I am not developing the tool as yet; just having conversations about the possibilities and limits of technology, and how it could enhance the performance experience I have set up.

 

I'm learning the limits of GPS, that I had thought of using, but turns out it is not as precise as I would like it to. Many of the stories are gathered quite close to each other geographically, there is one street that is rich in stories and the accuracy of GPS isn’t that precise, so it could be that stories bleed into each other, which isn’t ideal. 

It might be that part of the performance, would be me, story telling, and then ‘audio interruptions’ would weave into that.

 I like the idea of the stories having a direct connection with something tangible.  This could be a building - looking into a derelict building and hearing what happened there is very evocative.   I also like the idea of the objects that you can hold in your hand, and passing these objects around the audience.

In the current version, I have objects in the pockets of my coat. The coat is a metaphor for me as the storyteller.

’I wear this coat and tell many stories in my pockets, neither fact or fiction or devils or saints these are the stories that need to be told…. Listen”

 

I have been talking to Jo Reid at Calvin about I Beacons, which are small transmitters.  Perhaps we could reverse the technology on them and have a collection of these devices in my pockets and when they come into contact with a speaker they would trigger the audio all at the same time.

The I beacons could perhaps be fashioned into objects, they could be a pearl ear ring lost when the dug up the road, a pink carnation, a bus ticket or a glass of sherry that the audience could pass around and have a closer relationship to the stories.

There are many possibilities and so much to think about. I'm looking forward to continuing my research.