Arts House and Campbelltown Arts Centre acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of the lands we work on, the Bunurong Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung peoples and the Dharawal people. We extend our respect to Elders past, present and future, while respecting Custodians of the vast Nations our digital platforms reach. We extend this acknowledgement to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, audiences and communities.
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Witness
– All the Web’s a Stage by Robert Reid

About

The potential for using the internet as a live performance space has been with us for decades now and yet – despite some notable exceptions – its potential remains largely untapped. Dr Robert Reid reflects on why the traditional live performing arts have been slow to engage with online media.

Arts House has commissioned a series of written and audio works from Witness Performance, to explore the relationship between live performance and the new digital landscapes that art inhabits as part of BLEED Echo, a public program responding to and ricocheting from the five artist projects and curatorial conversations of BLEED.

Premiere status

World Premiere

Presented by

  • Presented by Arts House, City of Melbourne as part of BLEED 2020.

Artistic Credits

  • All the Web’s a Stage was commissioned by Witness Performance through Arts House, City of Melbourne for BLEED 2020.

Supported by

  • BLEED is supported by the Australian Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, City of Campbelltown through Campbelltown Arts Centre and City of Melbourne through Arts House.

Schedule

Essay released 22 June
Expected read time: 15 mins

Read

Blog post

Bios

Witness

Founded in March 2018 by Alison Croggon and Robert Reid, Witness (witnessperformance.com) is a non-commercial online site that answers the essential need for thoughtful, informed critical discussion of the performing arts. Witness publishes long-form critique that places work in its aesthetic, social and historical contexts. It seeks to complement and expand the product-oriented reviews and news-based articles that dominate contemporary discussion of Australian performing arts. As part of its core mission Witness has mentored many new voices, expanding the discussion around performing arts to writers and thinkers most often marginalised in traditional media, including First Nations and disabled critics. Its activities include reviews and essays on contemporary performance, podcasts and videos.

Robert Reid

Robert Reid is co-editor and founder of Witness. He is a freelance playwright, director, game designer and academic. He is the Artistic Director of the Australian live games company, Pop Up Playground, directed the Fresh Air International Games festival at Federation Square for three years and has created games for the White Night Festival, the State Library of Victoria, The Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Bell Shakespeare and the Melbourne Football Club. His plays have been produced by Melbourne Theatre Company and Black Swan Theatre Company and shortlisted for the Wal Cherry Award and Griffin Awards. Robert was Artistic Director and a founding member of the independent theatre company, Theatre in Decay. His Hello World! Promoting the Arts on the Net was a Platform Paper for Currency House in 2011. He completed his PhD, After the Pram: a Survey of Independent Theatre in Melbourne, in 2016.

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