The Object of Performance: Aural Performativity in Contemporary Laptop Music.

The use of the laptop in performance causes various negative responses from the audience, who feel a loss of spectacle and performativity in the action. This occurs as a result of the lack of gesture and visual cues from the performer and the loss of focus from the audience, who have no visual objec...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Contemporary Music Review Vol. 22; no. 4; pp. 59 - 66
Main Author: Stuart, Caleb
Format: Article
Published: Taylor & Francis Ltd 2003
Subjects:
Online Access:View this record in EBSCOhost
Description
Summary:The use of the laptop in performance causes various negative responses from the audience, who feel a loss of spectacle and performativity in the action. This occurs as a result of the lack of gesture and visual cues from the performer and the loss of focus from the audience, who have no visual object to ground their aural experience. A shift in focus from an understanding of the visual spectacle in performance to that of aural performativity is needed. Once this is understood, the audience can approach the performance with a shifted focus and come to new understandings of the aural object and contemporary digital audio.