Public Squared

public², is a mixed reality, geolocated performance taking place at three Kansas City Streetcar stops. Choreographer Jane Gotch, in collaboration with videographer Ian Garrett, will create a site-specific virtual reality dance at each stop, and a single culminating live performance.

Public art acts like a microscope, directing attention towards overlooked and mundane locales within a city. The performer’s body becomes something between the artistic tool and the medium, embodying qualities of both camera and canvas. Through public performance, we generate a conceptual feedback loop by documenting and describing the environment’s history, architectural features, and inhabitants while simultaneously becoming new pieces of history and architecture.

public² goes a step further and reimagines what “public space” is, and how it is created and accessed within a city. Gotch proposes that public space isn’t just a segment of land designated by a city planner, but it is a mindset shared by the inhabitants who occupy any public space—literally, the ground they are standing on. public² gets people outside in the downtown core while accessing art and technology together.