War in Heaven: Interactive CD-Rom Developed in Collaboration with the Software Developer Adrian Ward of Signwave

This practice-led research project seeks to discover new forms of interactivity through investigating and pushing mixed reality boundaries. It examines the ways in which pre-conditioned audience behaviour can be used as a trigger for interactive performance, in which the audience indirectly influences the state of the set and thereby the performer. The indirect influence between audience and space in theatrical performance - which Blunck terms ‘subconscious interaction’ - is at present unexplored.

The work uses the text ‘The Angel’s Monologue’ by Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard and is the first of a series of experiments dealing with the creation of audience feedback loops. It is intended to make the audience directly responsible for any change in the environment and thus have an effect on the actor. The interactivity between audience and actor is based on a subconscious level and mediated through the (shared) space. Mutation within the space is activated by certain behavioural patterns of the audience, e.g. sneezing, coughing, sweating, fidgeting. As a consequence, the actor needs to respond to the altered space. The performance devised and designed by Blunck currently takes the form of an interactive CD-ROM.

In creating the interactive CD-ROM Blunck collaborated closely with the software developer Adrian Ward (Signwave). The software implemented the interactive proposal by controlling the playback rate of two videos and a separate vocal soundtrack, which were triggered by increased movement of a mouse - which was a substitute for a system which would be able to detect subtle changes in an audiences' state. This software was developed iteratively and through repeated experiments.

This work was exhibited at Wimbledon School (now College) of Art in 2004 and was a finalist for the Oxford Samuel Beckett Award 2006 as an Indian Runner Production, a company co-founded by Blunck.

Marie Blunck designs explorative performances using new technologies. She has devised interactive installations and designed numerous plays and various short films with directors Yael Shavit and Zeb Lamb. As part of Indian Runner Production, she has co-devised and designed Trailer, which received the New Discovery Prize at the International Mime Festival 2006 in Périgueux, France and was shown at the Camden People's Theatre as part of the Tonic season.

She has been collaborating with Slung Low on Small Worlds for the Liverpool City of Culture Festival 2008 and Helium, which won the 2008 Oxford Samuel Beckett Theatre Trust Award and was premiered at The Barbican Centre's Pit Theatre in London in September 2008.

• http://www.blunck.org