At NTW we've always got one eye on the future, thinking about how we make work and how we could make work.

For a while now we've been adding to the tools we use to make and develop work, but without any time to explore what these new tools mean or are capable of. That's about to change.

In 1998 I had a 56k dial-up modem and a mac clone, and was introduced to Google. The way this search engine worked change the way I did. In 1999 I was sending zip-disk back & forth to San Fransico by Fedex with artwork for exhibitions. In 2012 this seems ridiculous. I can use a TFP client to send a brouchure to the printers, and publish the results online with ISSUU. I wouldn't dream of paying for an international phone call - we speak to our family in New Zealand on Skype, and sometimes I've even Facetimed between rooms in the house.

But what does this mean for performance?

There are obvious examples - Station House Opera's Live From Paradise or Brokentalkers In Real Time linking geographically disperate locations with video as part of the performance, or the RSC's Such Tweet Sorrow which reimagined Romeo & Juliet for the Twitter age. But this is about production rather than process. What about how we make work?

If you come into our office you'll quite often find someone talking loudly at their laptop screen wearing headphones, or co-authoring a document on Google Docs. How does this change the work we make? What would happen if you restricted your communication with your collaborators to the non-physical. And that's the challenge we've set ourselves.

Thanks to support from the Jerwood Charitable Foundation over the next six months, we'll be working with four groups of theatre makers and web design company Hoffi to explore the possibilities of new ways of collaborating. We'll be testing the (free) tools that are out there and developing a prototype platform for artists to collaborate on. Artists won't meet in the physical world but will collaborate virtually, starting to create new pieces that wouldn't otherwise have existed.

So we're looking for 16 collaborators who are up for finding out what the possibilities are. We'll provide a framework, tools, support, chalenges and a small fee. Does this sound like you?

If you want to explore with us we're asking you to make a short (up to 1 minute) online artists dating video - answering the following questions:

Name?

How do you describe what you do?

Mac or PC?

What can't you do online?

What's you're favourite online tool & why?

What's the trait you most deplore in others?

What kind of artist are you looking to collaborate with?

Upload it to Vimeo, tag it ntwdate, send me the link and let the artistic love in begin. DEADLINE: Midnight on 2nd April 2012.

For an example of how foolish you'll look see my effort here, where you can also ask questions and be kept up to date with the progress of the project.

If you don't have the facilities to make a video (with your phone, webcam or camcorder), but want to apply please get in touch and we'll try and help. If you don't want to upload your video to Vimeo (where you can keep it private) get in touch and we'll make other arrangements. 

Supported by the Jerwood Charitable Foundation: