Jennifer Sheridan
Research Interests: Summary
I completed my PhD at Lancaster University where I worked under the supervision of Professor Alan Dix and Dr. Gerd Kortuem. My interest is in the intersection of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and Live Art or what I call Digital Live Art. Through Equator funding I have been able to direct, design and produce interactive installations and performance events using sensors, wireless and mobile peer-to-peer technologies and embedded physical computing technologies to mediate ‘wittingness’. Digital Live Art explores the methodologies, theories and technologies at the intersection of Live Art and Human-Computer Interaction. My research explores how both HCI and Live Art measures can be used to understand and analyze performative interaction in playful arenas and unanticipated performance spaces. My PhD thesis, “Digital Live Art: Mediating Wittingness in Playful Arenas”, describes how I use technologies in performance to mediate ‘wittingness’ in playful arenas. Mediating wittingness allows people to step in or out of a live performance based on their knowledge or awareness of the performance frame. For example, with iPoi I have created a wireless, peer-to-peer interface, which is currently being supported as part of the AHRC-funded Design for the 21st Century ‘Emergent Objects: Designing the human/technology interface through performance’ project. As a Research Associate for Equator, I looked to create, promote and expand the understanding of Digital Live Art, and to develop a network of practitioners and academics who reflected on Digital Live Art in real-world situations and unanticipated performance spaces. I have contributed to interactive installations which have appeared in Urbis, Manchester; The Sage, Gateshead; The Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal; FACT, Liverpool; Nuffield Theatre, Lancaster; and Folly, Lancaster, among others. I am currently involved in projects which will see my work exhibited in venues across Yorkshire, Lancashire and Cumbria, such as the AHRC-funded Emergent Objects project. |