8.

Moving on from the first show i felt like revisiting performance. After seeing a episode of QI that spoke about the experiment that is Schrodingers Cat by Erwin Schrodinger in 1935. This is based on the principle in quantum theory of superposition. Superposition is a principle that describes the concept of nature and behaviour of matter and forces on a sub-atomic level. The cat demonstrates the apparent conflict between what quantum theory tell us is true about the nature and behaviour of matter on the microscopic level and what we observe to be true on a macroscopic level (everything visible to the unaided human eye).

 

The experiment meant hypothetically placing a live cat into a steel chamber, along with a device containing a vial of hydrocyanic acid. In the chamber there is a small amount of hydrocyanic acid, which is a radioactive substance, meaning if an atom of the substance decays during the time the cat is in the chamber, then a relay mechanism will trip a hammer which will break the vile and kill the cat.

As an observer, you cannot know whether the vial has been broken and therefore you cannot know whether the cat has been killed. Since we cannot know, according to quantum law, the cat is considered both dead and alive. This is what is called a superposition of states. Only when you break open the box and see the actual state of the cat is the superposition lost in which the cat can become either dead or alive.

With this in mind it spurred a conversation that discussed the notion of a live viewing of a group of people that were inside a "box" whilst being recorded live and streamed out to the audience  but in a slow motion. Thus allowing the performers to then join the audience and watch themselves live, as a short 30second clip becomes 15 minutes at 1000 frames per second. 

After having this conversation again and expressing my opinion to create this vision with Hannah Najjar and her wanting to work in high speed we put our thoughts together to come up with a performance. However before this could happen i needed to develop my ideas that were based around the transfer of meaning as discussed earlier. Therefore it would mean i have to look at Semiotics as the aim of this is to evoke a reaction from the audience. 

 

Semiotics is the study of signs, of signals When we read, or interpret anything we are engaged in the intellectual process of semiotics. It is also semiotics when we interpret paintings, or films, or poetry; or when we interpret the ‘real meanings’ or ‘hidden subtext’ of a political speech; or a back-handed compliment; or a muted display of thanks; or when we interpret the type of clothes someone wears, or the type of car they drive, or the music they listen to, or their haircut, or the way they speak, for what type of person they are; or how we read each other’s body language.

We actually engage in semiotics all the time. A huge amount of communication is non-verbal. Often it is very simple to decode it. If I smile at you, that smile is a signal and you read it, you understand I am pleased with you or I like you. Often it is not simple to decode it. If you are talking to someone at a party and they don’t look you in the eye, are they bored by you or are they just shy? Or are they dumbstruck with admiration; or are they feeling sick and worried they might throw up on your shoe? You have to look for other signals, often subtle signals, in order to decipher the code. You do a complex calculation, in a split second. Are they fidgeting, are they shaking, are they smiling at other people, are they raising their eyebrows at other people, how are they dressed? All these factors come into play.

Just as we interpret the signals people give off in real life, so do we also interpret those same signals when we see people depicted in film: what is their expression, how are they dressed? Who are they with, what is their relationship to those other people? What about their environment, the space they are in? What is their relationship to it, what does it say about them ? Equally, objects, most objects, also have cultural associations attached to them, ideas that are not inherent properties of the objects but which have become associated by our culture: a red rose; a freshly baked loaf of bread; a thunderstorm. When we see such objects or events in the picture, we read their signals too and relate them to other signals in the picture; and all these signals together create an often complex message coming out of each scene.

Therefore we subconsciously decide to partake in semiotics when we interpret an image and therefore define the meaning based on what we see up to the point in which it relates to the viewer.