ABSTRACT
Remoteness is based on the idea of at least two relative positions. 'Here' and 'there', 'me' and 'you'. During Remote Performances, the Highlands were redolent with the idea that Scottish independence was a very real possibility. Geographical remoteness can promise two potential scenarios: one offering a sense of privacy or 'safety' made possible through sparse human population; another providing opportunities for simulations of manoeuvres planned for destructive applications elsewhere. This can disrupt our understanding of remoteness as a space for physical and psychological refuge. Contemporary remoteness is exposed by digital isolation, the proliferation of the off-grid retreat, the desperate attempts at attaining mobile signal, waving our phones in the air as we stand on tree-stumps in fields, or the enthusiasm with which one celebrates one's imminent off-gridness online I can't wait! Five weeks of no internet, no phones at an Ayurvedic retreat, see you all in November '.
