consumer
consumer is a darkly comic and site-based participatory performance situated inside a busy suburban shopping mall. Combining a live radio broadcast and subtle performance tactics with cutting-edge 3G mobile phone technology, consumer invites its audience to undertake a personalised covert shopping mission exploring radical alternatives to a life dictated by consumption. consumer takes as its premise the legendary movie dawn of the dead which uses the 'zombie monster' as a metaphor for extreme consumption.
Each participant experiences a 45 minute solo excursion in the mall within the context of a discreet mass performance. Eah customised smart phone guides its user through the real space of the mall whilst immersing them in the world of the work through instructional text messages, movies, soundscapes, voice-over and live audio from embedded performers. Through the use of groundbreaking technology adapted specifically for the project, each phone is equipped with augmented reality [a.r.] software, from a new field of computer research which overlays virtual images onto the real world via a barcode marker. The mission sees audiences frantically consume the mall, scanning products and markers with their consumer phone. once scanned their phone screen displays hidden content revealing the monster behind the brand.
This project has been supported by the Western Australian Theatre Development Initiative, which is funded by the Australia Government through the Australia Council for the Arts, its arts funding and advisory body.