ABSTRACT

This paper describes an experimental project conducted by artists/researchers Crab & Bee (Helen Billinghurst and Phil Smith). The project was put together in response to the Covid Lockdown restrictions during 2020 in the UK and drew upon an art and performance practice that had been unfolding since 2018. ‘Testing Scores for Performing Placestories’ describes the testing of a group of scores (with accompanying avatars, gameboards, narratives and images) for participants to perform in their own homes, for their effectivesss (or lack of it) in encouraging participants to make displaced performances by ‘fictioning’ with unhuman agents. The scores were based on narrative features of a terrain around the Tamar river system (a post-industrial landscape of former mining sites, ruined quays and hollow lanes, with a troubled ecology and a varied folklore) gathered by Crab & Bee during performative visits to these sites. The players were encouraged to use the games to immerse themselves, in displaced domestic settings, in the materials and folkloric revenant of the wounded terrain and then invited to respond to their experiences. The second half of the paper addresses what the 22 detailed responses from the participants reveal, and draws some provisional conclusions.

摘要

本文描述了艺术家/研究人员 Crab & Bee（Helen Billinghurst 和 Phil Smith）进行的一个实验项目。该项目是为了响应 2020 年英国新冠疫情封锁限制而组建的，并借鉴了自 2018 年以来展开的艺术和表演实践。“表演场所的测试分数”描述了对一组分数的测试（附有化身、游戏板、叙述和图像）供参与者在自己的家中表演，因为他们有效（或缺乏）鼓励参与者通过与非人类代理人“虚构”来进行流离失所的表演。这些分数是基于塔马河水系周围地形的叙事特征（前采矿场、废弃码头和空心巷道的后工业景观，Crab & Bee 在对这些地点进行表演性访问时收集到的（生态环境问题和民间传说）。鼓励玩家利用游戏让自己沉浸在流离失所的家庭环境中，沉浸在受伤地区的材料和民俗遗迹中，然后邀请他们对自己的经历做出回应。本文的后半部分阐述了 22 名参与者的详细答复所揭示的内容，并得出了一些临时结论。