Research-creation thesis project Body-based storytelling. Kinesthetic experience and reception in the body narrative between contemporary dance and immersive digital art / La narration par le corps. Expérience et réception kinesthésique dans la narration corporelle entre danse contemporaine et art numérique immersif. In co-tutorship with University Paris 8, Ecole doctorale esthétique, sciences et technologies des Arts, Scènes du monde research unit. PhD co-supervisor at Università di Bologna, Prof. Elena Cervellati. Supervisor at Paris 8, Prof. Katia Légeret. Co-supervisor at Paris 8, Prof. Erica Magris.
Research field and corpus
The thesis project focuses on the development of a prototype of the artistic work "Eve 3.0", which combines contemporary dance and virtual reality in the context of a participatory performance. The artistic work is a case study in experimenting with and defining a narrative form in which the spectator-participant (Freshwater, 2009. Burzyńska, 2016. Fischer Lichte, 2018. Pustianaz, 2022) becomes part of the narrative development through the movement of their body in virtual reality, to the point of becoming an actor in the work (Fuchs P., 2018). Considering dance as a non-verbal, communicative and empathic activity (Berthoz, 1997. Berthoz and Jorland, 2004. Bond, 2008. Charliac, 2013, 2014. Martin-Juchat, 2020), the research aims to observe the ways in which dance practice is transmitted through the use of immersive technologies on stage (Broadhurst and Machon, 2006. Dixon, 2007. Benford and Giannachi, 2011), in an art mediation approach (Légeret, 2019), where participatory art experience is a means to suggest new thoughts and practices (Dewey, 1939. Popper, 1980. Formis, 2010. Jenkins et al, 2015). Specifically, through field research inscribed in a phenomenological vision (Merleau-Ponty, 1945. Di Paolo and De Jaegher, 2012. Fuchs T., 2018), we envision the implementation of the case study with the audience, who are invited to a kinesthetic and immersive experience within a narrative reception framework (Murray, 1997. Hagebölling, 2004, Mazzei and Jackson, 2012), following modes of research-creation that lead to this type of study (Edmonds and Candy, 2011). Once these preambles are laid out, the study aims to describe the creative practice of a kinesthetic narrative format and the reception of this format, in order to develop a thematic analysis based on exchanges with the audience (Paillé and Mucchielli, 2012. Andrews at al., 2013. Breton, 2022. Manzano, 2022) and the participant observation (Soulé, 2007).
Issues
The central issue is the definition of a kinesthetic narrative format, which takes place in a context of shared experience as in a contemporary dance performance, and with the application of immersive digital technologies. The distribution of an artistic product leads to some observations on the use of immersive digital art and contemporary dance in a research setting, opening reflections on the stimuli that enable intersubjectivity and empathy (Ribeiro and Fonseca, 2011. Behrends et al, 2012). The project also aims to propose a sustainable use of new technologies, to draw attention to the importance of body education (Martin-Juchat, 2020), taking advantage of the mediating role of art and in particular of contemporary dance (Homann, 2010. McGarry and Russo, 2011).
