CHARADE, this autumn's interactive exhibition at Impressions Gallery in York, will explore identity, fantasy and performance.

Commissioned by the BBC during 2002/2003, the Shooting Live Artists project will be showcased at Impression as part of the York International Digital Arts Festival, SightSonic 2003.

Charade will display four works that combine history with modern-day digital technology in contrasting situations from Noughties' romance to Seventies' rock'n'roll.

The first piece, Suffragettes Invented Performance Art, will place the viewer in the crowd of the 1913 Epsom Derby, where suffragette demonstrator Emily Davison jumped in front of the King's horse. Creators Hill & Paris present archive footage in DVD format and then apply it to alternative political and performance history.

In Bar Flies, George Chakravarthi plays three women whose love lives parallel each other, as Maureen, Jasmine and Claire recount their romantic adventures in their local pubs and clubs.

Recordings of chatline conversations give an insight into the joys and struggles of life on the edges of society and sit alongside visual footage of the characters he plays.

Lisa Watts and Brian McClave's Escape Mechanism re-creates Houdini's straight-jacket stunt on film. Watts hangs off a chain, upside down, and attempts to free herself like Houdini did, and this time the spectacle is recorded in stereoscopic vision, requiring 3D glasses for maximum impact.

File Under Sacred Music is a complete re-enactment of The Cramps' 1978 gig in a Californian mental institute. Artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard re-create the legendary performance in a large-scale DVD presentation in black and white, employing the likes of The Parkinsons' Alfonso Pinto and singer Holly Golightly to play the band.

Charade will run from October 17 to December 6 at Impression Gallery in Castlegate. Admission is free.

Updated: 09:14 Friday, September 19, 2003