Benchmark.

Benchmark is a permanent site-specific interactive artwork and winner of a Milly Apthorp Trust award 2006 (£5,000). Benchmark presents an intermedial space for human movement. Here the emphasis is in the development of pedestrian movement: movement not generally acknowledged as part of a dance vocabulary yet movement that can be examined in choreographic terms. The research re-visits pedestrian choreography, an area which was initially investigated in the 1960s and 1970s through the performances by internationally renowned choreographers such as Trisha Brown and Yvonne Rainer, but which has remained relatively undeveloped over the past two decades. Through the utilisation of new technology Sandiland's research represents a new direction in the exploration of pedestrian movement by its acknowledgement of the viewer/participant's movements as well as the movement of trained dancers on a video screen. It aims to expand the realm of pedestrian choreography by including and drawing attention to the movement of the viewer/participant and including their motion in a composite choreographic arena that includes both real and virtual spaces. Practically, Benchmark explores simple human actions taking place around a long bench in the Artsdepot centre. It looks to integrate the everyday actions of the public into a continuously evolving choreography based on sitting and standing. Members of the public (viewers) are invited to sit on different parts of the bench. From the bench a video can be seen projected onto the opposite wall showing an image of the same long bench seat but with a number of performers moving on or in front of it. These performers react in different ways depending on: where the viewer sits, how many viewers there are, and how close together they are sitting. The movement sequences are designed to reflect and extend the viewer's own actions melding them into a multi-layered choreographic composition.