Designing Audience Participation and Gamification in Intermedia Performance: Conceptual Framework and Theoretical Implications Post COVID-19

“Humanity: From Survival to Revival” (“Dystopia to Utopia”) is a participatory survival game and audiovisual performance work that depicts the transformation of the dystopian state of humanity to utopianism in both the visual and sonic realms. Audience members are invited to participate in humanity's interactive survival games and to contribute their photographic facial outlines as visual content for the performance. This paper explores the theoretical framework behind designing audience participation and interaction by reflecting on the notion of dystopia as related to the COVID-19 pandemic, while also reflecting on this event's outcomes and challenges. In doing so, this study showcases the process of visual transformation, depicting the transition from dystopian to utopian paradigms via audience participation and musical performance.