Deceptive digital art plays with more than perception

[cronus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... mp27HDUk3k

Deceptive digital art plays with more than perception

I feel someone holding my hands as I dance. I am told that my name is Johan and, looking down, I am dressed in a man's shirt and tie. It all feels very real. Things get stranger by the minute and my identity seems to be slipping away. I'm not even sure who I am anymore.

I am, in fact, wearing a pair of video goggles and taking part in The Show of your Life, a one-on-one theatrical performance by Me and the Machine, which premieres this week. It's one of about 40 performances, installations and exhibits at Frequency digital arts festival in Lincoln, UK. Some are thought-provoking takes on digital culture, while others demonstrate the immersive power of the medium.

Sam Pearson from Me and the Machine says The Show of your Life was inspired by an article in New Scientist. "We use the body-swapping illusion in our performance. We're interested in how technology can make people feel like they're in control in a theatrical experience."

Elsewhere in the city another world premiere is taking place: the screening of the entire 13-hour NASA archive of footage from the Apollo missions, put together by science film-maker Chris Riley. This is the first time most of the clips have seen the light of day after sitting in cold storage for 45 years.

The fuzzy, often obstructed shots provide an interesting alternative to the more familiar views of Earth. It is also the first time the 15-minute journey of three lunar rovers through the mountains of the moon has been shown in its entirety. "It's quite ethereal to watch," says Riley. "Driving a car on another world for the first time is an extraordinary jump in history."

The missions are shown in chronological order, without any sound, starting with the dramatic rocket launch of Saturn V in 1967. The film ends with jerky, but oddly revealing footage of Ron Evans, commander pilot of Apollo 17, on a deep space walk, retrieving a camera somewhere between Earth and the moon. "There's a lot of fanfare at the start but the last shots are very underwhelming," says Riley. "It reflects the public's loss of interest over the course of the missions."

(continued, lots of posters for this strewn around the city...can't say I want to put myself through a technical mushroom trip)