In Memory of the Q-File

Abstract

Discussion of “digital performance” is preoccupied with themes of fluidity, variation, ambiguity, and resistance to rigid categorization. And yet these themes correspond more closely to analog principles. The digital ethos indicates regularity, precision, and the elimination of ambivalence. The rationalized industrial practices of stage management, blocking and, in particular, lighting cues prioritize the precisely timed and accurate reproduction of stage images through the instant recall of digital memory.