New social contracts and digital intimacy in mammalian diving reflex’s the lockdown resolution

ABSTRACT In July 2021, Canadian performance company Mammalian Diving Reflex premiered The Lockdown Resolution at Arnolfini, a contemporary art centre in Bristol, UK. Combining virtual reality (VR) hardware, 360° film and Zoom teleconferencing, the performance connected ten ‘in real life’ (IRL) audience members to ten remote audience members around the world. Through conversations and immersive, tech-mediated interaction, audiences found out about each other and the lives of three young Bristolians during lockdown. Drawing on research in VR and social dynamics, this paper examines human-tech interfacing in The Lockdown Resolution, exploring synchrony, social presence and intimacy to social cohesion. Examining social engagement through multiple-reality performance, producer Nadia Abdelaziz and Mammalian Founder Darren O’Donnell investigate digital intimacy in performance and its role in creating an opportunity for civic development. At the centre of this activity, Mammalian create space for young people to lead these interactions. Bristol-based young performers Chris Lewis (18), Alke Schwarz (19) and Germain Loud (21) co-devised the show working with local creatives over a series of workshops, meetings and rehearsals. Offering insight into Mammalian Diving Reflex’s working methods, we imagine and discuss the civic potential of new social contracts that might be created through intimate and immersive digital performance.