A critical study of physical participation in Blast Theory’s Can you see me now?

This article will explore how avant-garde artistic practices in the field of mixed reality performance, namely pervasive games such as Blast Theory’s Can You See Me Now? (2003) critically engage with the proliferation and implementation of virtual technologies in everyday life, in particular focusing on the tension between the physical and virtual aspects of participation in these environments. In the context of these changes it is important to ask where the performance of everyday life is taking place. I will argue that there is a cultural shift resulting from the global, massive implementation of these technologies towards a virtualisation of everyday life performance and a progressive re-calibration of sensitivities away from the immediate material and physical domains of experience. Throughout this article neuroscientifc theories will be used as a lens in order to provide insight into the role of the audience/participants in Can You See Me Now?. Thus the intersection of neuroscientific theory and performance analysis will serve as a methodology for exploring different paradigms and modes of engagement with mixed reality performance.