Live From a Bush of Ghosts

At the PuSH festival 2009 in Vancouver, Live From a Bush of Ghosts by Theatre Conspiracy (Vancouver) is a work that looks at the physical effects of technology on our bodies. One of the inspirations (as noted in Meg Walker’s article in RealTime #90) was Manufactured Lanscapes, a film that shows “devastating footage of poor workers in remote Chinese villages melting computer parts over fires to wrench off recyclable metals, poisoning their lungs and their water supplies in the process.” (Meg Walker) These physical effects of technology are one aspect of, and one way of looking at, the materiality of technology and also the agency of technology. They highlight how the materiality of technology has lasting and unforeseen physical effects on our lives that are not at all related to the intended use of these technologies. These effects show the far-reaching impact of technology, that in enabling us to shrink physical distance, our actions have consequences in places and ways we could not have imagined. Our responsibilities for the role we play in technology take on a different meaning.