ABSTRACT
During the COVID-19 pandemic, performing arts activities moved from studios and practice rooms into people’s homes with the adoption of video conferencing tools. Focusing on an arts and health singing programme and a community arts class, this chapter examines how the digital media involved in remote delivery and participation shapes and transforms lived experience. Adopting a postphenomenological lens, an empirical methodology that examines human-technology relations, Zoom is revealed to be a non-neutral mediator of experience. Triangulating data from participant observation, interviewing objects, and semi-structured interviews draws attention to the role of the screen in spatial orientation, how the mute button transforms singing, and the impact of latency on conversational flow. The chapter contemplates how Zoom and digital media both extend and disrupt participant experience and argues for the potential of remote delivery for widening participation in the community arts.
