Zoom Fever- Mapping Small Theatre Ecosystems Using Digital Archives

This essay explores the idea of ‘scalable reading’ in digital archives of theatre, and how the concept is being applied to the digital archive of Splinters Theatre of Spectacle to reconnect the intangibles of past performance to the cultural landscape in which it was performed. Linking the small digital archive of the company to large datasets such as AusStage and using software platforms such as Google Earth allows users to ‘zoom’ between the frames of reference of the connected databases and can be used to evoke a sense of place that can enhance the understanding of the material in the archive.

https://www.academia.edu/113361520/Zoom_Fever_Mapping_Small_Theatre_Ecosystems_Using_Digital_Archives

Dogtroep in Leningrad

I was fortunate to spend several weeks in the Netherlands in 2015 researching the archive of Dogtroep. Lino Hellings today made a poignant post on Facebook about their time in Leningrad in 1989 and someone posted the video of it in the comments, which I thought I’d share here. So much like Splinters! You can turn on auto-translated comments to get an idea of what they are saying.

Dogtroep in Leningrad 1989

Long Time No See

Just a little update post as I was a bit surprised to find that this site still gets visited by around 20 people each month! The research and gradual sorting of the Splinters archive continues, albeit very slowly due to having moved to North Queensland for employment. I am working towards completion of a more formal archive site using the amazing and wonderful Omeka S platform, and my exegesis on its development. Hopefully complete by the end of 2021…

For now, the front page looks like this. Omeka has only very recently included functionality for CSS so I am looking forward to making it a bit more vibrant.

In memory of ‘pling

Splinters Theatre of Spectacle, Utopia/Distopia (1994), photo by ‘pling

With great sadness recording here the untimely loss of ‘pling, photographer extraordinaire of Canberra arts and culture. He began photographing bands in the 1980s and somewhere along the line became a regular at Splinters performances. He was a kind, gentle man with a wry sense of humour, whose generosity in capturing images benefited hundreds of Canberra artists. The image is one he selected for inclusion in the 2013 Splinters exhibition at Canberra Museum and Gallery, from Utopia/Distopia (1995). 

Splinters video compilation

Splinters video compilation

Two hour compilation of documentary video of Canberra’s Splinters Theatre of Spectacle performances 1986-97 made for screening at the exhibition Massive Love of Risk at Canberra Museum and Gallery in 2013.

Works depicted include:
Massive Love of Risk 1986
Whirled on a Fatal Floor 1989 (incorrectly captioned Crime of Yelling)
Splinters Procession Promo c1990
Mutter Courage 1990
Theatrical Fiasco/Howling in the Halls of Night 1990
Winter of the Rutting Moon 1991
Splinters Promo video 1993 version
Flowers of Gold/Bezerkii Carnival 1992
Summernats 1993
Guardians the Concourse 1993
Thirst… is a place 1993
Village of Captive Souls 1994 – behind the scenes
Utopia/Distopia 1995
The Second Scream 1995
Mysteries 1996
Faust 1996
Autogeddon 1997

Videographers and editors include Jose Robertson, Luhsun Tan, Carl Looper. Compiled by Gavin Findlay. This upload is for research and educational purposes only and all rights remain with the copyright owners.

Machine War shown at Art School 40th

The ANU School of Art recently held 40th birthday celebrations including Lucence, a 3-day screening of performance and video works by students and alumni. Of course a number of Splinters members studied there and the company performed at the School on several occasions. I suggested Lushun Tan’s video Machine War, which includes footage of the legendary performance at the 1991 Art School Ball as well as from Cathedral of Flesh at the 1992 Adelaide Fringe Festival. Link below to the room sheet, which includes Luhsun’s artist statement about the video.

Lucence_RoomSheet_WEB

Splinters slideshow by Katherine Pepper

Beautiful slideshow made by Splinters member and photographer Katherine Pepper, for display at the exhibition “Massive Love of Risk: the art of Splinters Theatre of Spectacle”, Canberra Museum and Gallery Sep-Dec 2013. Katherine’s website http://katherinepepper.co.uk/.

Dogtroep seminar part 3

Dogtroep seminar part 2

Dogtroep seminar

First part of a seminar with renowned Dutch theatre group Dogtroep at Het Huis, Utrecht, The Netherlands, 12 May 2015. Guest speakers Dogtroep founder Warner van Wely and members Vincent de Rooij, Jos Sandvliet, Han Bakker and Titia Bouwmeester, with contributions from Cathrien Bos, Csilla Lakatos and Septimia Kuhlmann. Hosted by Gavin Findlay, Australian National University Centre for Digital Humanities Research, with assistance from the Theatre Studies Department, Utrecht University.