Artists, performers and designers have experimented with the use of networks, telecommunications and information technology as a means of broadening their creative experience for decades. Metabody, Zero Point, Danceroom Spectroscopy are three current, ongoing projects with goals closely related to that of the present research.
Metabody
Metabody is a project financed by the European Commission which commenced in July 2013 and will run until July 2018. (del Val 2013) Metabody investigates cultural diversity, non-verbal communication and embodied expression, by examining networks that connect institutions, organisations and people. The research will result in an interactive mobile architectural structure for outdoor spaces (performances, interactive installations and immersive durational experiences), to include both analogue and digitally mediated environments consisting of space modules, objects modules and wearable modules, working both locally and telematically, with the possibility of connecting protagonists in different cities and countries. Metabody seeks to generate a new methodology for interdisciplinary research and artistic creation between this area of the arts, information and communication technologies, human science and philosophy.
a choreosonic dance work, created by DAP LAB – directed by Johannes Birringer & Michèle Danjoux.
Thursday & Friday, April 3 – 4, 2014 7:45 pm at Lilian Baylis Studio, Sadlers Wells
Birringer’s & Danjoux’s “for the time being [Victory over the Sun]” was a fascinating layered performance of movement, multimedia and technology. The piece is inspired by the Russian futurist opera “Victory over the Sun” (1913), which was evident in the dramatics and visual design. The wearable technology created the futuristic look and also allowed the performer to control sound and light adding the many layers to the dance performance.
The stage design was minimal with few props. Light and projections gave the space changeable textures and assisted the movement through transitions. Birringer’s research investigates wearable technology in the fields of performance, music, digital art and fashion. This performance demonstrated this cross-over. The technology embedded costumes, ‘intelligent fashion’, utilised triggers and sensors, allowing the performer to create addition layers of sound and light.
References:
http://www.dance-tech.net/events/for-the-time-being-victory-over-the-sun
http://people.brunel.ac.uk/dap/
Zero Point
Darren Johnston is a UK director, choreographer and video and sound artist with a contemporary dance background. Johnston undertook a week-long residency at the Barbican Theatre in London in March 2014 to experimentally use his own software in an interactive performance called ‘Zero Point’. Using motion-sensing technology, video projections and light, he designed a performance in which shapes of light moved over a backdrop of darkness – “it bathed the bodies of dancers with graphic texture and light.” At the time, Zero Point was a mid-creation piece. The sensors and programming mapped and selected the dancer’s body in the three-dimensional space and created a shape based on that of the detected dancer, which was then projected back onto their bodies in real time.
Danceroom Spectroscopy
UK based Danceroom Spectroscopy is a science/art collaboration exploring languages and crossovers between physics, interactive art, performance and technology. It interprets people as energy fields, allowing them to influence both graphics and sound within the interactive environment using their movement. The technologies Danceroom Spectroscopy utilises in many of their installations are Max/MSP, Albeton Live and Microsoft’s Kinect sensors.
“It’s always been a challenge for scientists to visualise the invisible world of nano-molecules. We are used to seeing ball and stick representations, but by working with a talented team comprised of musicians, computer scientists, choreographers, dancers and artists, we have been able to do something completely new and different.” – Dr David Glowacki, Project Leader.
