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Mr Dan Barnard

Mr Dan Barnard

barnard2@lsbu.ac.uk

Arts and Performance

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My artistic practice focuses on creating experiences that put audience members as decision makers at the heart of interactive performance. I split my time between Digital Story Studio Fast Familiar and LSBU, where I am a member of the Centre for the Study of the Networked Image. My research centres on digital performance and I am a member for the Association for Research in Digital Interactive Narratives and the EU COST Action on Interactive Narrative Design for Complexity Interactions. I am also a co-convenor of the Theatre and Performance Research Association’s Performance and New Technologies Working Group.

Fast Familiar are an interdisciplinary collaboration comprising expertise in theatre, facilitation and creative computing.

We make artworks which are participatory, playful and political. For us, art is a space to explore questions which are too complex for daily life - and a space where we can rehearse better outcomes for a world where no decision of significance is taken by an isolated individual. We’ve been exploring digital technology in live performance since before it was ‘COVID-cool’ - we’re fascinated by how digital tech can enable new forms of human connection in a rapidly changing world. In January 2021, we were praised by the Guardian for pioneering “a hybrid form that is its own thing entirely… Fast Familiar are making participatory stories that feel distinctly theatrical.”

Fast Familiar's artwork The Justice Syndicate has received numerous five star reviews, was selected for the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology and longlisted for the Lumen Prize. Our interactive whistleblower thriller Smoking Gun was picked by the Financial Times as one of the top ten arts experiences of lockdown. The New York Times described Fast Familiar’s immersive courtroom drama The Evidence Chamber as ‘relentless innovation, a glimpse of the future of online performance.’ Our recent project Social Sandwich was selected for the prestigious international MediaFutures programme, which supports innovative artists working with technology to critique its impact on individuals and society.

My research has been published in the International Journal of Performance and Digital Media, Law and Humanities, Stanislavski Studies and Interactions. My paper on Fast Familiar's Looking For Love was awarded "best short paper" at the International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling in 2018.

My research focuses on the nature of audience interaction in digital performance and the role interactive digital performance can play in helping people grapple with other societal issues including the law, privacy and climate change.

Courses taught

Acting and Performance - BA (Hons)

Arts and Creative Industries - PhD

Arts and Creative Industries - MRes

Postgraduate Research Supervision
Current
Mr Mateus Jose Tansley De Oliveira DomingosPROPOSING A LUDDITE ARCHAEOLOGY OF HOBBYIST COMPUTATIONPhD
MA

Cambridge University

2001
2003
ProposalProjectRoleFunderStatusStatus last updated
From pervasive to immersiveFrom pervasive to immersivePrincipal InvestigatorArts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)OPEN In preparationMar 2023

The Justice Syndicate: Using iPads to increase the intensity of participation, conduct agency and encourage flow in live interactive performance
Barnard, D. (2020). The Justice Syndicate: Using iPads to increase the intensity of participation, conduct agency and encourage flow in live interactive performance. International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. 16 (1), pp. 68-87. https://doi.org/10.1080/14794713.2020.1722916

The Justice Syndicate: how interactive theatre provides a window into jury decision making and the public understanding of law
Barnard, D. and Meyer, K.D. (2020). The Justice Syndicate: how interactive theatre provides a window into jury decision making and the public understanding of law. Law and Humanities. 14 (2), pp. 212-243. https://doi.org/10.1080/17521483.2020.1801137

fanSHEN’s Looking for Love: A Case Study in how Theatrical and Performative Practices Inform Interactive Digital Narratives
Barnard, D (2018). fanSHEN’s Looking for Love: A Case Study in how Theatrical and Performative Practices Inform Interactive Digital Narratives. International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling. Dublin, Ireland 05 - 08 Dec 2018 Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04028-4_47

Approaches to understanding and using Katie Mitchell’s Events technique in professional and pedagogical contexts
Barnard, D. (2020). Approaches to understanding and using Katie Mitchell’s Events technique in professional and pedagogical contexts. Stanislavski Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/20567790.2020.1771667

Case study 2: Using games based on giant dice and time restrictions to enable creativity when teaching artistic or creative subjects
Barnard, D (2017). Case study 2: Using games based on giant dice and time restrictions to enable creativity when teaching artistic or creative subjects. International Journal of Game-Based Learning. 7 (3), pp. 87-92. https://doi.org/10.4018/IJGBL.2017070109

The Justice Syndicate: A Practice as Research Project exploring immersion and agency in actorless technologically-enabled interactive performance, juror behaviour and reasonable doubt.
Barnard, D. (2020). The Justice Syndicate: A Practice as Research Project exploring immersion and agency in actorless technologically-enabled interactive performance, juror behaviour and reasonable doubt. London South Bank University. https://doi.org/10.18744/lsbu.89060

The Justice Syndicate show structure
Barnard, D. (2020). The Justice Syndicate show structure.

The Justice Syndicate: evidence of performances
Barnard, D. (2020). The Justice Syndicate: evidence of performances.

Reviews and press coverage of The Justice Syndicate
Barnard, D. (2020). Reviews and press coverage of The Justice Syndicate.

Video Documentation of The Justice Syndicate
Barnard, D. (2018). Video Documentation of The Justice Syndicate. Youtube

INDCOR white paper on the Design of Complexity IDNs
Andrew Perkis, Mattia Bellini, Valentina Nisi, Maria Cecilia Reyes, Cristina Sylla, Mijalche Santa, Anna Zaluczkowska, Shafaq Irshad, Ágnes Bakk, Fanny Barnabé, Daniel Barnard, Nadia Boukhelifa, Øyvind Sørdal Klungre, Hartmut Koenitz, Vincenzo Lombardo, Mirjam Palosaari Elahdhari, Catia Prandi, Scott Rettberg, Anca Serbanescu, Sonia Sousa, Petros Stefaneas, Dimitar Uzunov, Mirjam Vosmeer, Marcin Wardaszko, Perkis, A., Bellini, M., Nisi, V., Reyes, M.C., Sylla, C., Santa, M., Zaluczkowska, A., Irshad, S., Bakk, A., Barnabé, F., Barnard, D., Boukhelifa, N., Klungre, Ø., Koenitz, H., Lombardo, V., Elahdhari, M.P., Prandi, C., Rettberg, S., Serbanescu, A., Sousa, S., Stefaneas, S., Uzunov, D., Vosmeer, M. and Wardaszko, M. (2023). INDCOR white paper on the Design of Complexity IDNs. Cornell University arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2305.01925

The Evidence Chamber: Playful Science Communication and Research Through Digital Storytelling
Barnard, D., Doran, H., McAlister, J., Briscoe, R., Hackman, L. and Nic Daeid, N. (2021). The Evidence Chamber: Playful Science Communication and Research Through Digital Storytelling. Frontiers in Communication. 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomm.2021.786891