Help Margareth the Clown and a team of artists build a picture of Britain on-line in 2011 and add your voice to the Internet safety debate!!

When: Saturday 29th October 12.00 – 4.00pm and Sunday 30th October 11.00 – 2.00pm

Where: Middlesbrough Railway Station

What: Art activities and performance art for all the family

This activity is run by the VOME research project and is part of the national Festival of Social Science.

VOME is a research project about on-line privacy, run by Royal Holloway University of London, Cranfield and Salford Universities together with Sunderland City Council and Consult Hyperion.

The aim of this event is to encourage the public to share their thoughts about on-line identity and take part in art activities that help us build a sound and visual art collage about on-line safety. All participants will be given a £5.00 voucher to spend at the railway station’s Travellers Rest Cafe.

Hosting an event such as this is a valuable component of the VOME research strategy as it allows us to use art to engage with members of the public on topics related to internet safety.

Participants will be able to:

• Watch performance art on topics related to on-line safety
• Take part in making an art collage
• Develop self-portraits
• Help build our whispering secrets wall

Background

This event was an activity aimed at members of the general public and was designed to promote audience participation in the important topic of on-line privacy and consent. Participation took place from the start, when the audience was invited to use an electronic voting tool to take part in a short privacy survey. Next, physical theatre company, Bimbilibausa delivered a short play about a case of mistaken identity online and the privacy implications that ensue from it.

The play was developed from the privacy themes identified in the first year of VOME’s community research conducted here in Sunderland. Again, the audience participated by using the voting tool to vote on the privacy practices that the play’s lead character, Margareth, should have followed. The event closed with a discussion on on-line privacy issues and practical steps we all might take on-line. During the discussion the actors talked about their own experiences and how developed the play had changed their own on-line privacy practices.

The Play

The Context

The play is set in an office environment and examines the relationship between the three characters Margareth, John and “the Boss”. Using theatre enables us to explore how privacy and identity traverse on and off line environments.

The Film of the Play

Here you can watch the key scenes from the play, interlaced with explanations from the actors:
The film starts with an introduction to Bimbilibausa and then shows the opening scenes from the play. The opening scenes show a working day in the office and are introduced to the three characters and the metaphor of “computer inputting” is used to reflect the relationship hierarchy in the office.

The interactions in the office explores the ways in which :

• Office flirting develops through computer use
• Bullying / sexual harassment can be exacerbated through computer use
• On-line fights / wars take place

These opening scenes also reflect on the incongruity between office face to face interactions and interaction through the computer (ie computer interaction more intense than face to face)

The film explores the techniques for developing the play. Much of the source material came from VOME’s initial research output.

Next, the scenes focus on on-line privacy issues and show Margareth going on-line for her own use and enters a variety of sites some of which are pop ups, she goes to on-line purchasing, moves through a variety of sites. She ends up on a dating site.

In the last scenes, the topics of on and off line interaction are fused together where Margareth uses the Internet to control her office relationships.

Bimbilibausa theatre company at the ESRC Festival of Social Science for the VOME privacy project from VOME on Vimeo.

Reflections from the actors

“We chose to work in clown form as the red nose is the worlds smallest mask. Using masks for communication can distort realities, heighten the strength of intention, hide and also reveal information. The red nose primarily reveals information. The material and research we received from VOME helped us make these connections and parallels were drawn to create this first piece.

Fools historically intrude into conventional order. By placing the setting of the piece in an conventional office it represents our society as is and allows the audience to make real connections. Whilst following the research based storyline the audience engages with the characters and their actions that ultimately mirrors the general current behaviour of parts of our society.

The work we are doing with VOME is currently unique and therefore new and exciting for us to work with. It connects an age old tradition of looking at society and where we’re at with the added presence of ‘the clown’ or ‘the fool’ within this structure. Questions are thus raised about the prevailing order of the current state, creating debates and thought which thus forms directions for future behaviour and action.”

This event provides an opportunity to share your thoughts about online identity and privacy. Beginning with a short performance to introduce the topic in a thought provoking manner, followed by a discussion and interactive activity to record your thoughts and conclusions.
If you are interested in attending this event, please contact us.