Influența elementelor multimedia asupra experienței cognitive și emoționale a performerului

Abstract

The Influence of Multimedia Elements on the Performer’s Cognitive and Emotional Experience
In this article, I examine how multimedia elements influence the performer’s cognitive and emotional experience in contemporary performance. I focus on the integration of videomapping, interactive projections, sound, light, and motion-tracking technologies into choreographic practice, paying particular attention to attention, concentration, spatial perception, bodily awareness, emotional involvement, and responsiveness to visual and auditory stimuli. I approach the relationship between the performer and the digital environment through the concepts of embodied cognition, distributed cognition, interactivity, and real-time feedback. From this perspective, I understand the body not merely as an instrument that executes previously formulated decisions, but as an active component of perception, orientation, and meaning-making. The applied component of the research is based on the multimedia performance Unknown, developed within the Interactive Digital Arts project at the University of Arts Târgu Mureș. I participated in the project as choreographer, which allowed me direct access to the creative process and to the performers’ interaction with the visual and auditory environment. To complement my participatory observation, I used a questionnaire completed by seven of the nine performers involved in the production. The results indicate that the multimedia environment was generally perceived positively and was associated with increased emotional engagement. Four of the seven respondents reported changes in their perception of space and of their own bodies. The effects on attention and concentration were less uniform: most participants did not perceive a significant change in concentration, while the reported influence on attention varied in intensity. The qualitative responses suggest that the impact of multimedia depends on the performer’s familiarity with the stimuli, the ability to perceive the relationship between bodily action and technological feedback, and the degree to which the digital elements are integrated into the choreographic structure. I therefore argue that multimedia can function as a cognitive and expressive partner when it supports bodily presence, improvisation, and creative autonomy without overwhelming or replacing them. Given the small number of participants, the analysis of a single production, and my direct involvement in the creative process, the findings are exploratory and cannot be generalized. They nevertheless provide an inside perspective on the conditions under which digital technologies may shape the performer’s affective, perceptual, and cognitive experience.