Hypothesis:
 It could be said that effective art engages the emotions of the receiver, forcing an evaluation of it’s meaning. Modern art leaves the definition of the communicative code up to the receiver. Through the act of perception, the receiver deciphers meaning and only then completes the production of the artwork. This is a subjective act open to multiple interpretations. Hence, the artist may strive to steer this interpretation toward their concerns. The modes suited to the direction of the receiver’s interpretation are yet to be defined for contemporary live audiovisuals.
 Can the artist strive for greater control over meaning in the absence of a definitive code of communication? Since the birth of cinema it has been apparent that there is no universal language of the moving image. There are only conventions developed through repetition over time that become genre. Is there justification in the artist seeking to shape a new code within audiovisual performance? As a multimedia form, it can take codes from music, theatre, dance and so on. How much of the communicative code can be defined by the creator of the audiovisuals? Does the post-modern condition of ubiquitous access to information and virtual cyber-realities preclude any attempt at shaping definitive codes for intended meaning in performance?
 As an artist, I find it necessary to incorporate message and concepts in the design and performance of audiovisuals. For too long I have simply presumed that the audience would receive some of my intended meaning. I no longer make such assumptions and so I seek the academic path to rigorously test the hypothesis that greater control over meaning in a multimedia performance is not only possible but to the greater experience of artist and audience alike.

Background:
 My own artistic practice spans composition and performance across music and motion graphics. As such, I deal in multimedia and therefore strive toward the Wagnerian ideal of the Gesamtkunstwerk. The premise that such a mixed media engages all the senses, leading to a higher connection with an audience, has been presented in various guises from Wagner through the Bauhaus, the Fluxus events and on to the present. Different contemporary movements in history have created their version of such an art. It has been the technology available and the sensibilities of the current avant-garde that have shaped each past definition. It is no different in our present day and so it is my aim to fuse new art and practises across multimedia toward the goal of greater control over meaning.
 Combined control over the audiovisual streams, the lighting, the space and all performers should enhance the artist’s ability to direct an audience’s attention, their emotions and perhaps their extraction of meaning. If so, this would lead to performance of more depth for the audience, reflecting with greater clarity the intent of the artists and performers. A new aesthetic may develop in multimedia performance, new audiences may engage with the medium and a new relationship may be struck between audience and performer.
Why then the medium of performance? Through performance, the artist involves the audience in the moment of creation. When watching a music video or short film, the viewer can turn away, disengage and switch off. Attending a performance, an audience are at first engaged through immersion and a sense of occasion. Then, they are more likely to engage with the performer, their content, their narrative and their message.

History:
It could be said that many of the concerns of today’s performance artists are the same concerns that the first performance artists had at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Futurists espoused the ideals of technology, speed and multi-faceted realities. Dadaist practise, through short episodic performances, dealt with issues of concern within their society, while celebrating the moment of performance itself rather than the aesthetic produced. The Bauhaus sought the perfect synergy between rigorous preparation, artistic expression and technology across varied media. The Fluxus events in the 1960’s and 1970’s engaged more with the conceptual intent of the performer, yet again celebrated various forms and media, taking advantage of the emerging sensor and video technology.  Aesthetic concerns returned in some of the performance art in the late 1970’s, a reflection of the practise of the mainstream Rock musicians and their large live spectacles.
The 1980’s saw the rise of a sampling aesthetic, reflecting a wider post-modern ambivalence toward ownership, and in the practise of creative commons, a concern that remains with us today. Much current art references to previously produced work, seemingly in the need to justify its merits. This is also a manifestation of the artist’s voice, shouting for attention in a world that is now an information overload on the senses, impersonal yet dazzling in its nature.
Live audiovisual performance became possible in the late 20th century. Live visual performance (VJing), defined its aesthetic as related to that of dance music and the club scene of the 1990’s. VJing still is predominantly a visual performance in the accompaniment of music: the VJ strives to couple the visual to the sonic. Variation in the intensity of the musical stream is anticipated and inferred. However, this is not the symbiotic relationship that it can be.
 Currently, there is interesting convergence between theatre, music and visual performance, manifest in fields such as fringe-theatre and concert-audiovisuals. Dance practitioners project visual backdrops and use motion tracking to engage with such. Control systems unify temporal change lighting, projections, set design and performers. These new multimedia forms now demand enquiry as to how best shape a performance so as to reflect the artist’s conceptual intent onto the participants? Furthermore, in the case of an artist handing over a work for performance by others, how can an artist best notate and prepare so that their intent is clear for performers and audience?

Methodology:
 The author's thesis will follow that of a practise-led research thesis, sitting between the realms of art, performance and technology. The author’s hypothesis will be examined through the preparation, rehearsal and performance of multimedia events. However, a number of specific avenues will be explored through these performances.
 It will be necessary to explore what it means to be an audiovisual performer. The art and practise of an audiovisual performer remains, academically, undefined. The level of complexity inherent in the preparation for performance, the use of suitable control interfaces and the act of performance will be explored through practise. It will also be explored through interviews with international artists currently engaging in audiovisual performance.
 It may be necessary to suggest and then develop new software tools for performance. Through performing with existing systems, it is envisioned that restrictions will be encountered. Existing tools may fall short of the requirement for performance. Complex setups may be necessary with the existing tools and so these may need to be redesigned.  
 Multimedia, by its nature, often seen teams of individuals collaborate on composition, rehearsal and performance. Does artistic intent suffer dilution from the primary designer’s vision in a collaborative context? If so, is this even a detrimental eventuality? These questions may be answered through collaborative performances with other actors, musicians and visual artists.
 Inherent in striving toward a new art form is the search for a new aesthetic. The structure of the live compositions and the manner of the audiovisual events is not yet clear. The possibility of a new audiovisual language may emerge from the series of designed performances.
 With the emergence of an aesthetic and an audiovisual style, it may become clearer which venue best suits this form of performance. The required relationship between performer and audience will dictate such a choice. Performing in varied spaces such as cinemas, cafes, galleries, halls and so on will test their contribution toward creating the right blend of audience focus and sense of occasion.

Critical Evaluation:
 Screenings, visual tests, and performances will be the outcomes of the author’s explorations. This body of practise-led research will then lend itself to a complete written thesis on the author's proposition that a new paradigm is possible in audiovisual performance art.

Screen Tests:
 This method of evaluation takes its form from the world of commercial visual production. In the fields of video editing, motion-graphics and effects, the client views the development of the audio-visual stream and offers continuous feedback to the designer. Here, the development a new aesthetic can be judged off-line, by rendering the output from off-line processes and real-time performances. Supervisors and colleagues of the author can then offer their impressions on the developments, creating a feedback loop for further development and renderings.

Performance:
 Once aesthetics are defined and interfaces/routines prepared, the live arena can be the next test bed. As the author is seeking to define a new paradigm for an art form that has never been "narrow-cast" but rather "broad-cast", one that has existed, from its birth, in the live, public arena, performances should take place in both the academic space, the public gallery space and the concert venue. The aesthetics will be assessed for their broad appeal and relevance to an audience. This will be achieved through interviews and questionnaires, extracting qualitative judgements from participants.
Performances will also be adapted to different performance venues. A preferred method and place of performance may become an integral part of a new aesthetic.

Technical Developments:
 Once performances are complete, new software tools and sensor-based control-interfaces may be deemed necessary. These tools will be developed and then tested for their effectiveness by again bringing them to the live arena. The Screening - Performance - Testing process will form a feedback loop, with each development informing the other. Successful tools can then become part of the tool-set for the artist. 

Festivals, Journals & Conferences:
 Findings from the above explorations into a new audiovisual performance paradigm may lend themselves to papers and presentations at conferences such as:
NIME
SIGGRAPH
DIMEA
School of Sound

Journal publications may be forthcoming in the likes of:
Leonardo
The Journal of Performance & Art (PAJ)
The Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception & Performance
Crossings
Art & Research
Technoetic Arts

However, as an exploration in digital performance art, the author places performances at events on a par with proceedings in traditional academic circles. It is in these realms where the author’s contemporaries gather, those most qualified to judge the validity of a new paradigm in audiovisual performance. Examples of such events are:
Ars Electronica
Sonar
Mapping Festival
Transmediale
La Nuit Blanche

Resources:
 It is the expertise of the staff at Northumbria University and the Culture Lab (Newcastle University) that will be required during his course of research. The proposed primary supervisor, Dr. Steve Gibson, is one well versed in trans-disciplinary performance art, while the proposed second supervisor, Brigitta Zics, is an established multi-disciplinary artist and one well versed in the British & European PhD process. The broader knowledge base within the Culture Lab and the research groups there will keep me in contact with similarly like-minded researchers and practitioners.
 I intend to programme some performances for spaces within both institutions, for which live spaces will be required, but also plans for performances in Ireland and Europe.
 My motion graphics experience spans a number of different platforms, owing to his experience in Video Production, Motion-Graphics production and live VJing. I intend creating content with tools such as Illustrator, Processing, Cinema4d and After-Effects as well as with found and original footage. I intend recording and appropriating material with Photoshop and Final-Cut-Studio.
 My own master’s thesis was a study in the use of Max/MSP/Jitter as a prototyping environment for the design virtual stereo surround-sound system using head-mounted LEDS and a firewire camera to track head movement. This and other similar projects give me the knowledge to propose and design new software and hardware control systems. Performance interfaces may be designed from their foundations with Max/MSP/Jitter or may use combinations of Ableton-Live, Modul8, Syphon, Quartz-Composer, Processing and more. Motion-tracking systems may be employed to aid in reflecting artistic gesture to the audience. Specific hardware interface solutions may be required for control, but generic MIDI and USB devices will form the mainstay of HCI within this research.
 Preparation for performance will require new approaches towards the organization of content for live delivery. Methods will have to be developed for interaction within performance, whereby performers are able to move between pre-ordained moments of unison and paths of individual trajectory.
 Finally, there may be some psychological tests devised to attempt to gain quantifiable information through spectator response. However, the study is primarily one qualitative in nature, focusing on the practise of the techno-artist and their reflection and writings on such.

Summary:
 Multimedia performance is no new mode in art. However, it is an art whose form constantly changes so as to engage new technologies with the aim of reflecting the concerns of its contemporary world. Today’s multimedia performance art is one that offers simultaneous control over sound, lighting, spatial design and interface. In particular, one can now synthesize events across multiple media at in the live environment.
 What are the specific contemporary themes and concerns of those who engage as spectators with audiovisual performance? Does contemporary audiovisual performance offer a platform to engage in satire in a manner that broadcast and Internet media do not? Can the concerns of the designer become the concerns of the audience, through the designer’s shaping of the communicative code between artist, performers and audience?
 As an art form in a state of flux and adaptation, if content is to speak to its contemporary audience, so to must the designers and performers adapt? Their modes, their language and their organizational systems must seek to grasp the new paradigm that arises with unique technical systems, new audiences and new platforms for performance.
 A thesis on the above questions is proposed as one of research through practise. Contemporary social concerns will be surmised, texts will be created to engage with these concerns and then collaborative, multimedia performances will be structured, rehearsed and performed. Reflection on the process and the event will then enable qualitative analysis to be employed. This will feed back into the design of the following events. Alongside the audiovisual performances, academic papers on the artist’s findings will arise All in all, it is envisaged that this thesis will aid in the definition of a paradigm for contemporary multimedia performance.

Practice:
 As one lecturing full-time in a third level (University Limerick), the author would engage with this thesis on a part-time basis, aiming for completion within 4 years from registration.

很多的不定数，心里空空的。

不知道用什么样的词语来形容这三年的生活。

充实、冲忙、还是什么？不过坚韧、收敛倒是最大的变化。

想想曾经的我，看看那过去的只言片语，

年轻真好，又渴望着长大，更渴望的是一种安定。

思想依旧在翱翔，朝着内心深处的方向，但心却很累了。

年龄越大，牵绊的就越多，无法完全自我的去生活。

一路走来，付出的，收获的，值不值得都不再重要。

衡量太多，就会计较太多。重要的是你要什么。

我要稳定的工作，要么留下来继续等待，要么你出去翱翔。

我要和我喜欢的人一起生活，那你最好留下来继续等待。

每天都是两个声音再左右的谈论，

人生的第27个冬天，我想静静地思考一下，做一个决定出来。

一个值得我决定的决定！

有没有想我呢！

终究是那个结果，飘扬过海回来，然后作新的人。
不在红色，不在阴暗，生活依旧是生活，你也不可幸免。
已经不在期待你的出现，不再有寻觅的激情。
所有的曾经幻化成一种内在的力量，
有一天，它会再我身体里爆发。
我相信你会看到的。你和他都将看到，
就仿佛曾经我看着你们，恩，我相信。
加油 i love c ，i love m。依旧，永远。

我们都走在那泥泞不堪的路上，一路鸟语花香，一路手牵手荡漾。
我爱生活，爱自己。也爱你。

2010，我们在路上……