Digital scenography is being used for more and more productions e.g. 'The Woman in White' (2005) and 'Shooting Shakespeare' (2004). However we believe that Rhizomes is pushing performance-work into new areas of the adjacent possible. We immersed live dancers in animated digital scenery of whole worlds comprising ‘found’ objects. The movement of the dancers and digital scenography was crafted together in a unique manner. Rhizomes intertwined science, technology, and art; and through combining these subjects and reflecting upon them academically, we have come to see Rhizomes not only as a complex system (with non-linearity, a dynamic interplay of randomness and order, self-organisation, and emergence) but also as a living system (automaton). This many artists have informally acknowledged since prior to Michaelangelo's times, but in this western contemporary culture rooted in scientific rational values, it is important to pause and reflect that what science is only just discovering has often long been 'common knowledge'. Art-work (including the creator as a Maxwell's demon-like automaton) takes on a life of its own once commenced. It becomes an evolving identity which is Self-maintained (until it as we all do find death). Indeed great works of art live beyond the practical 'work' itself and into copious reproductions and interpretations and re-interpretations as other creators / authors / and audience reflect and propagate the 'work' (see Barthes 1977). This growth of the 'work' expands through constrained boundaries pushing at them into the adjacent possible.

Rhizomes III did not entirely 'work' and yet 'it is suggesting' new emergent properties from which I strongly believe a 'very-different-from-that-which-has-been' form of performance work will evolve. Combining moving digital scenography and live dance created 'narrative' which would not otherwise be possible; structural links, transitions and intercutting between scenes, were created, which makes stage performance come closer to film-structure; and for some members of the audience (including Curson and myself) combining Vc with Pc in this manner allowed a heightened visceral or kinaesthetic movement experience. In order for Rhizomes III to really resonate with an audience I believe Curson and I needed to create a more integrated 4th-order structure. To do this in the future we aim to balance the random and ordered elements, that is by unifying random elements in a greater nested/ hierarchical complexity (Stratified or layered rhizomic web) with feedback loops; and also by incorporating a greater unifying vision for any future Rhizomes IV or new piece. This may require more research in 3rd and 4th order structures, that is investigating how to weave film-like editing techniques in the grosser structure of interweaving scenes into a plot. But, already it is apparent that we cannot simply use well-established film editing techniques (e.g. Bordwell, 1985, Thompson, 1993), instead we will need to evolve further techniques for this 'staged-film' we are creating so it can be 'read' by viewers. These techniques will of course evolve into further areas of adjacent possible as the process of educating both ourselves and our audiences evolves into a constant becoming.

See also 'Work' in Rhizomes and Emergence in Rhizomes

4.0 Home Page, 'Beginning', Conclusion, Acknowledgements, References, Rhizomes Performances, Performances as References