Methods
Investigating Imaginary Evidence began as a research project about documentation on one level and about process on another. In the end, process emerged as a primary concern.

In deconstructing the methods employed in the development of Imaginary Evidence, the process of devising theatre emerged as providing both a contextual and a conceptual framework for the piece’s structure and content.

Developmental Processes
Developing interactive works with Forced Entertainment has always been a collaborative act. It has meant, however, that the process was often necessarily limited to close work between the Company Director (Tim Etchells), the Digital Author (Mary Agnes Krell) and longtime collaborator and Photographer (Hugo Glendinning). Each of the key participants would often work in their own ways developing images, structures and narratives in response to discussions with each other and other members of the company. What was often absent was sustained engagement with all members of the company and people outside of the company. Imaginary Evidence departed from earlier works in that David Jennings (a user interface specialist) and the entire company were involved in the entire developmental process. For that reason, ways of working changes and Imaginary Evidence evolved in an almost theatrical way.

Devising Interactive Media
The process of devising performance, for Forced Entertainment, is one of visions and revisions. Over the course of a year (sometimes longer) company members work together to write, perform, record, review and revise pieces of work. There is a built-in self-reflexivity that utilizes video-recordings of rehearsals as a key element of representation. Most days begin with a review of the previous day’s work on video. Pieces are discussed, re-ordered, added and removed based upon those discussions. The process is collaborative and quite open, allowing each member of the company a distinct voice.

The construction of Imaginary Evidence departed from other interactive works by the company in that elements of the rehearsal process were literally introduced to the development of the piece. Throughout the evolution of the CD, versions (and re-versions) were reviewed, discussed, changed and discarded borrowing approaches and language from the rehearsal process. This was a unique system in that company members were not digital authors in the same way that they are performers within their own work. It meant that there were systems of interpretation and mediation employed. It was slippery and extraordinary for those reasons.