Systems of Co-Creation Artistic reflection

This article is an artistic reflection of a research project called Please Switch On Your Mobile Phones (PSOYMP) that took place in three venues in Wales in 2014. The aim of PSOYMP was to develop new tools for audience interaction with on-stage dance, with the intention of developing new audiences. The project utilised an action research model to create a flexible choreographic and digital hybrid system that enabled the audience to collaborate in real time with the creative team–a choreographer, five dancers, a digital artist and a technologist–using mobile phones and tablets.

The project resulted in the creation of an hour-long performance event. This was developed through three stages that included a week-long residency in each stage and a public performance event with a feedback session at the end of each residency. The final event was streamed live via YouTube and a web-based application, which allowed the online audience to participate in the event and to collaborate with the creative team in a similar way to the in-house audience. This article focusses on the creative process and discusses the nature and the development of the collaboration between the creative team and the audience.