Awaiting Tiresias: A Livestream Performance for the Digital Research in the Humanities and Arts Conference Context:

Abstract

Awaiting Tiresias is a livestream performative autoethnography that uses film and streaming technology to take audience members into the liminal space of a medical exam room in which the performer is left blindfolded and in the dark to contemplate their fate. The piece draws upon Greek mythology, common attitudes towards blindness and disability, and modern conceptions of gender in its multi-layered analysis of identity and diagnosis. Awaiting Tiresias examines tensions between liminality and diagnosis, sight and insight, and inter and independence. The performance relies upon film’s ability to carefully construct perspective and interiority as a means of generating empathy and awareness. At the same time, Awaiting Tiresias embraces the way that the mixture of film with liveness can destabilize theatrical expectations to create a space where new perspectives are possible. The creative team behind Awaiting Tiresias utilize the individualized experiences of audience members who witness the performance from their personal electronic devices to challenge the ocular-centric focus of film and theatre. In order to best experience the performance, audiences are encouraged to use headphones, turn out lights, and minimize distractions.

Keywords

• performative autoethnography
• disability
• identity
• livestream