Everyone caught up in COVID-19 is hiding from an invisible threat in which the physical world looks exactly the same, and the fear lives in our imaginations. In the performing and screen arts, our audiences have disappeared. Those for whom we act have been spirited away, turned into phantoms.
Where are they? Where is the point of view from which we are viewed? As digital and virtual reality artist Michael Beets reflects, ‘When you create these things, you’ve got to decide on what point of view you want your audience to have. How can I fit live performance into a virtual world?’
