4. Going Out: On the Street (17 Jan, 2024) – Part 2

When we went on the street to explore/observe, we brought with us GoPro cameras attached to our body, and they were used and expected to be devices that can help us to explicate the street scenes as performances/performative happenings, especially with their frame/framing and perspective (or angle, directionality). That was the original intention.

However, from my actual experience in the exercise, I discovered that these devices brought also other effects—they helped to heighten our self-awareness and also the awareness of the people on the street when they were close to use, because, yeah, we looked “weird” and “suspicious” wearing these devices on our bodies in public spaces. These devices, and the awareness they brought, slightly disrupted/interrupted or suspended the smooth operation of daily routines, making both the observers and the doers/performers slightly or occasionally jump out and become aware of what they are doing and/or what they have been doing. So once again, de-familiarization (Verfremdung) and reflection (from interruption), but with the help of devices, or say, apparatus, as Brecht said.

The apparatus is a concept not unfamiliar with some other thinkers at Brecht’s time, especially those from the Frankfurt School, known as the critical theory thinkers nowadays. But Brecht had his own take on this concept and used this to reconsider the potential function of theatrical devices. Like my experience on the street with such devices, their presence and visibility brought awareness, interruption and reflection, even before we watched our video recordings much later on screen, making the performativity even more visible via framing and angle. Therefore, the media/mediators themselves with its presence and materiality also have effects, besides the mediated images. Both can become useful for theatre-making with a Brechtian vision.