495 words about the performance
My performance piece: The Box, mixes two senses and removes one to heighten the other two, in order to immerse the user in the performance. The Box itself is a metaphor not only for the dead, but also for the unknown. Painting it black represents the unseen or shadows that lurk around us. I have taken away the sense of sight to try and attempt to heighten touch and sound. Sight is claimed to be the most powerful sense to gain knowledge of objects (Hultén, 2015:chapter 5). With this i am hoping if it is removed, the other senses can more easily be manipulated to give a misrepresentation. The box is a symbol of the unknown and, by having the user place their hands inside the box before they are blindfolded, allows them to believe that their hands are in a sealed container where there anything is possible. Since a people’s minds are open to manipulation I began by attempting to manipulate their thoughts towards a false representation of what they will feel (Robson, 2015). For instance, I told them to make no sudden movements inside the box and that nothing will harm them as long as they didn’t move too quickly or take their hands outside the box. This was to give them the impression that something was alive was going to be in the box and to trigger anxiety, paranoia and fear in their minds (Changing minds, 2015) . In fact there was mainly only water and soil touching them inside the box. I added a fake skull into the box to represent the city of the dead and the adding of fake human blood is to represent that people there could be dead or alive. I pretended to bite my own arm to get blood out of it. This was not for the user, but only for the audience watching to try and give them a similar feeling to the user. The sound effects used were to guide everyone on a journey through the city of the dead and are associated with fear such as howling wind and screams (Viers, 2008) . The sounds are more to try and increase the user's heart rate into almost a state of panic to then increase the fear of the unknown of what is inside the box with them. I wanted the user to feel out of place and unsure of their surroundings and, by doing so, allowing the sounds and feelings to create fear, but more precise a fear of the unknown similar to the anxiety that some people feel towards death (Firestone and Catlett, 2009). The elements I used for touch were intended to take the user through a sensory experience one can imagine when one is buried. The soil was used to represent being buried, the water represents the body turning into fluids, the skull to represent the bones left behind, and then fake blood for the bloodlines, which are passed on.
Ref:
Hultén, B. (2015) Sensory Marketing: Theoretical and Empirical Grounds. New York: Routledge. [Online] Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5jevCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT237&dq=is+sight+the+strongest+sense&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=is%20sight%20the%20strongest%20sense&f=false [accessed 31 October 2015]
Robson, D. (2015) the hidden tricks of persuasion. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150324-the-hidden-tricks-of-persuasion [accessed 31 October 2015]
Changing minds. (2015) Fear and Persuasion. [Online] Available from: http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/articles/fear_persuasion.htm [accessed 31 October 2015]
Viers, R. (2008) Sound Effects Bible. Laurel Canyon Blvd: Micheal Wiese Productions . [Online] Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8mocQmOfPz4C&pg=PA3&dq=thunder+sound+effects+fear&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwA2oVChMIgrzpoNHsyAIViEAUCh368Ax0#v=onepage&q=thunder%20sound%20effects%20fear&f=false [accessed 31 October 2015]
Firestone, R. and Catlett, J. (2009) Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness. New York: Springer .
Ref:
Hultén, B. (2015) Sensory Marketing: Theoretical and Empirical Grounds. New York: Routledge. [Online] Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=5jevCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT237&dq=is+sight+the+strongest+sense&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=is%20sight%20the%20strongest%20sense&f=false [accessed 31 October 2015]
Robson, D. (2015) the hidden tricks of persuasion. [Online] Available from: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20150324-the-hidden-tricks-of-persuasion [accessed 31 October 2015]
Changing minds. (2015) Fear and Persuasion. [Online] Available from: http://changingminds.org/techniques/general/articles/fear_persuasion.htm [accessed 31 October 2015]
Viers, R. (2008) Sound Effects Bible. Laurel Canyon Blvd: Micheal Wiese Productions . [Online] Available from: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8mocQmOfPz4C&pg=PA3&dq=thunder+sound+effects+fear&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCwQ6AEwA2oVChMIgrzpoNHsyAIViEAUCh368Ax0#v=onepage&q=thunder%20sound%20effects%20fear&f=false [accessed 31 October 2015]
Firestone, R. and Catlett, J. (2009) Beyond Death Anxiety: Achieving Life-Affirming Death Awareness. New York: Springer .