Telematic performances interlink at least three spaces: a local stage, a remote location and a mediating, in-between space that bridges geographic distance. Each of these spaces have their own characteristics and agency. In reviewing the existing literature and history of telematics, and in the experience of our own practice, two fundamentally different approaches to engaging the continuity of distant locations can be distinguished. In one, the involved spaces are synthesized into a homogeneous spatial configuration which leads to an immersive experience not influenced by the contradictions of the physical characteristics at play. The goal of this approach is to produce a shared virtual space. In the other, the linkage of different spaces in a telematic performance intentionally carves out the differences of what is coming together, dispersing the characteristics of distinct physical and virtual spaces.
This could be referred to as an anti-virtual approach. It grafts one space onto the other, actively making the rupture lines perceivable. In this presentation, different approaches to analyzing the spatial continuity of distant locations in telematic performances are systemized and described on an acoustic level (how are local, virtual and remote spaces represented?), on a symbolic level (how are they treated compositionally?), and on a social level (how are different contexts brought into play and how is the public integrated?). A particular focus is given to approaches which are aware of the power of immersion but are never- theless prepared to break it in order to open up multilayered perspectives.
