Liveness, intermediality, performativity, and cinematicity are the four axes shared across all AV performance practices

Despite their differences, the five major AV performance categories — visual music, expanded cinema, live cinema, VJing, and live AV performance — all pivot on four axes: liveness (the bodily co-presence of performers and audience), intermediality (crossing between two or more media to form a new entity), performativity (the work exists only through its enactment), and cinematicity (reference to cinema’s conventions of projection, screen, and moving image). These four are not equally prominent in every practice: VJing foregrounds liveness and intermediality; expanded cinema stresses cinematicity and performativity; visual music prioritizes intermediality. Identifying which axes a performance emphasizes helps practitioners position their work and curriculum authors sequence concepts.

Examples

A VJ set: liveness high (real-time, with DJ), intermediality high (audio-visual), cinematicity medium (screen present, but club context). A live cinema piece at a theatre: cinematicity high (seated audience, narrative structure), performativity high (irrepeatable).

Assessment

For a described performance, rate the prominence of each of the four axes (high/medium/low) and explain your ratings in two sentences.