X Stories of a Technology Breakdown: How Digital Tools Influence Aesthetic and Artistic Options

Departing from a practical approach to performance, the paper aims to analyse the performance “Xistórias - digital performance on the Schist Villages” - a participatory artistic work that aimed for the social development of small Schist Villages in Góis Municipality, in an underdeveloped region of Portugal, presented on November, 2013. For several months two artists, a community organizer and a computer programmer worked together on the creation of this performance, along with 30 inhabitants from four different villages. During the process, besides the weather conditions and geographic isolation, several problems related to Internet connection and to mobile phone reception lead the team on the one hand to a research on the behaviour of technology devices, adjusting aesthetic and artistic options to the possibilities of the medium and on the other hand to a social action against digital exclusion in the territory. The paper explores the frustration of team members and audience when experiencing adversities from constant technical failures. The author questions thus the possibility of technical failure having influence the artistic process and the artistic and aesthetic choices.