Take Back the Net (Work): Lockdown=Innovation

COVID-19 devastated the performing arts, but restrictions surrounding lockdown became the catalyst for global collaborations between artists and indie organizations. A dancer from Iraqi Kurdistan, an Estonian engineer pioneering innovative streaming technology, a US-based program director, and a technical producer were all members of summer 2020’s “DANCEDEMIC”, a live stream event where dancers in isolation performed interactive stories of immigration incorporating live biometric data. This panel explores the challenges of global remote collaborations; networks as products and solutions; expanding the virtual body via biometrics; the democratization of streaming production and how it fostered a model for artistic and cultural engagement in the 2020s and beyond.