Entanglement Theory (2009)

Entanglement Theory started life as a research project into dance, screen and mixed realities. It began with the question: what ideas, images or stories does a mix of the online virtual world technology Second Life and real life dance ask for? Practical research by Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen of Physical TV and Gary Hayes of MUVEDesign began at Critical Path in January 2009 with a range of processes for the mix of Second Life and real life being tested through improvisation and the development of inter-media choreographic ideas. Fragments of that material were then developed by Richard and Karen first into a live work, Do Avatars Dream of Human Sleep?, and subsequently into the screen work. Entanglement Theory, both of which propose the hypothesis that a mash-up of Vedic spiritual philosophical ideas of multiple states of consciousness, different forms of body, and multi-dimensional realities, along with science fiction-like theories of quantum particle entanglement can be explored with this mix of media. In other words, that the two dancing men, each in their own reality, can meet, by crossing over boundaries of conventionally perceived time and space, and populate each other's performances.