Photographs are fine, but when the virtual experience becomes more important than the real experience, one must raise some questions.

The questions were raised for me a few years ago in a festival in Sopot, Poland. As is often the case, almost everyone there, both participants And observers, had brought a cassette recorder or camera or video camera of Some sort, and often people were not observing the events very closely, Because they were devoting most of the energy to making documents (that would Rarely be regarded later), and sometimes the performers seemed to be playing
to the cameras more than to the audience.

After a few days, when I was scheduled to present my “Counting Music,” I decided to change the atmosphere and begin my performance with the Following introduction:

“Today we make art the way we make war: Everything is designed for the media. I would like to propose that for the next 25 minutes we make one exception and have an event that is simply a matter of a live performer and a live audience. In order to do that, we have placed this table in the middle of the room, and I would like to invite everyone to place their
cameras and tape recorders and other documentation materials on this table. Then I will do a completely undocumented performance ‘Counting Music,’ One that will remain only in the memories of the people who are here.”

There was less resistance than I anticipated. In a few minutes at least 40 devices had been placed on the table, making a wonderful décor for my performance. I performed better than ever. The audience was totally silent, and I am convinced that this performance remains vividly in the memories of those who were there ­ much more vividly than it would ever have been captured on video.

We are extremely fortunate in this period of history to have such Excellent documentation techniques, but forgetting the importance of direct live communication is like forgetting that we ourselves are alive.