Pollyanna produces LGBTQ+ art and performances across Scotland and has produced queer cabaret shows in Edinburgh since 2015, showcasing over 250 performers including drag artists, singers and dancers.
Pollyanna is a delivered by Icky Arts CIC, a collective that support artists to develop their work in unexpected ways, showcasing underrepresented voices and thought-provoking art to audiences, fostering communities and empowering moments of discovery.
Icky Arts also produces Edinburgh Artists’ Moving Image Festival (EAMIF), presenting screenings and events celebrating video art and films made by artists at venues including the Fruitmarket, Talbot Rice Gallery and Filmhouse.
The Challenge
The defining feature of cabaret is that there is no ‘fourth wall’. In a live cabaret show, the audience are active participants – shouting, singing, talking to the performer – altering the shape of the performance as the performer responds and adapts to the audience’s input.
Since 2020, Pollyanna has been developing digital cabaret for web and gallery settings. However, watching cabaret on a screen takes away the opportunity for audiences to influence how a performance unfolds.
Pollyanna’s challenge is to develop a product that enables pre-recorded filmed cabaret videos to respond to audience interaction in a gallery setting. They would like a Challenge Respondent to develop a solution that enables audiences to interact with videos, triggering different performer reactions or pathways so that no two video-performances are the same.
They are interested in using voice data, and allowing groups of voices to interact, to create an audience experience rather than a solo one, but are also open to other suggestions.
They would like to work with a Challenge Respondent to develop the product in workshops with young people over autumn 2022, before presenting a prototype of the product in a two-day presentation at the Fruitmarket in Edinburgh in spring 2023.
Applications for this Challenge Project are now closed. If you have any questions about this challenge, contact us at creativeinformatics@ed.ac.uk.