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'Modes of Spectating'

co-edited with Alison Oddey, Edited chapters commissioned from 14 contributors

Exhibition of the same name - The exhibition of the same name took place at the Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge and interrogated the modes of exhibition used such as multimedia, installation and hanging costumes. The space was transformed into a spectacle with discrete pieces alongside.

‘Modes of Spectating’ is the 2nd volume in the trilogy (‘Potential of Spaces’ 2006) with the ‘Poetics of Imagineering’ forthcoming. This body of research interrogates the changing patterns and relationships of visual design practices. The first volume investigated spaces and was critically reviewed. This book addresses features of spectatorship in live and mediated entertainment and edutainment forms.

The research explores the changes in attitudes to spectating and the spectator’s relationship in live and mediated forms, questioning the viewer experience in new artistic and technological mediums. In order to document the resonance of reactions, the editors aimed to capture and explicate the processes of design and production, spectating artworks and installations, computer games, film and live performance. The editorial line was to question what is radically different about what we spectate today. Each of the review processes of peer-reviewed submissions of chapters to final copy of the book resulted in the refining of the ‘Modes’ text, given the editorial challenge to cross interdisciplinary boundaries and different spectator experiences.

The book’s originality is in the range of investigation into the spectatorship of 4 screens of environments from film, television, computer through to mobile devices. Its significance and innovation is in firstly initiating international debate to creatively unfold entertainment platforms from a body of research interrogating design practices. Secondly, how the theory and practice of spectatorship can be applied to the imaginative escape of multiple interventions. New insights have explored the aesthetics of spectatorship, the influence of the spectator’s body and mind, examining the self-conscious spectator and the interrogation of multiple narratives and disrupted engagements. Its contribution is to the social impact of new media technologies on art forms and new artistic practices in an interdisciplinary snapshot of spectatorship.