short:
The project will elucidate the confusing of the real and the virtual through seamless transitions and the perpetual obfuscation of the edges that demarcate them, through the proposed embedding of a live videostream into a 3D virtual game environment, and the following combination with Augmented Reality tools; this in order to bring movements and virtual actions back into physical space in a live theatre setting. The product of this (re-) combination is a recursive loop through both virtual and physical settings, a 'strange loop' of sorts, however not for the sake of a technologically-driven experience of fun. At the moment, prevalent is a strange and vacuous sort of vanity based on identity and form, optical gimmicks (think EyeToy) lead into questionable areas of media art as scientific/physical visualization, which removes us from the actual unfolding of the living human organism and its complexity. If bodies are complex systems embedded in the environment, what does this mean when we experience a saturation of media images on a daily basis?
extended:
Daedalus ex Machina invites the audience to experience the multifaceted nature of perception with real settings in virtual and augmented game environments. While it makes use of dance, moving image, videogame technology, sensors and robotic webcams embedded in a custom built environment, the main character goes through motions of change and transformation in relation to the performance space; its surfaces and its depths.
The Daedalus ex Machina project elucidates the experience of fragmentation we encounter in contemporary modes of existence. In a classical 3D virtual game-space we embed the formal 'documentary real-time' affect a webcam supposes, with fictional and subjective elements such as live audio, intimate gesture, and location changes spurred by the narrative reality of the performative event.
The live performer acts in relation to human interface devices (HID) - objects that are embedded with sensors. These networked objects are spread around the stage and interface with modified videogame software that allow for a comportment of physical and digital synthesis and act as sonic and visual emulators with the screen 's point of view.
Mythology tell us that Daedalus, creator of the image, constructed a Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it. We explore if this narrative still resonates in spatial simulated spaces, the sensorium and the moving body. The integration of computer technology into the world of theatre, and live video into the gameworld is a subject that remains aesthetically and philosophically problematic.
At the moment, prevalent is a strange and vacuous sort of vanity based on identity and form, optical gimmicks (think EyeToy) lead into questionable areas of media art as scientific/physical visualization, which removes us from the actual unfolding of the living human organism and its complexity.
If bodies are complex systems embedded in the environment, what does this mean when we experience a saturation of media images on a daily basis?
Daedalus ex Machina engages with 3D virtual space, networked performance and electronic media - we see this as a solid platform for an indepth collaboration about remote physical presence in its many facet’s but especially focusing on the element of liveness. We carve out new territory for the body to exist by excavating ancient notions of what consititutes a surface, coming to different insights about the connection and dividing line between self and objective world.
We construct our Labyrinth through the use of contemporary consumer electronics and entertainment technology, i.e. modified gamepads, webcams and a 3D videogame engine, through which the project investigates demarcations of the real and the virtual - and how these cross over in theatrical play.
The project will elucidate the confusing of the real and the virtual through seamless transitions and the perpetual obfuscation of the edges that demarcate them, through the proposed embedding of a live videostream into a 3D virtual game environment, and the following combination with Augmented Reality tools; this in order to bring movements and virtual actions back into physical space in a live theatre setting. The product of this (re-) combination is a recursive loop through both virtual and physical settings, a 'strange loop' of sorts, however not for the sake of a technologically-driven experience of fun. At the moment, prevalent is a strange and vacuous sort of vanity based on identity and form, optical gimmicks (think EyeToy) lead into questionable areas of media art as scientific/physical visualization, which removes us from the actual unfolding of the living human organism and its complexity. If bodies are complex systems embedded in the environment, what does this mean when we experience a saturation of media images on a daily basis?
extended:
Daedalus ex Machina invites the audience to experience the multifaceted nature of perception with real settings in virtual and augmented game environments. While it makes use of dance, moving image, videogame technology, sensors and robotic webcams embedded in a custom built environment, the main character goes through motions of change and transformation in relation to the performance space; its surfaces and its depths.
The Daedalus ex Machina project elucidates the experience of fragmentation we encounter in contemporary modes of existence. In a classical 3D virtual game-space we embed the formal 'documentary real-time' affect a webcam supposes, with fictional and subjective elements such as live audio, intimate gesture, and location changes spurred by the narrative reality of the performative event.
The live performer acts in relation to human interface devices (HID) - objects that are embedded with sensors. These networked objects are spread around the stage and interface with modified videogame software that allow for a comportment of physical and digital synthesis and act as sonic and visual emulators with the screen 's point of view.
Mythology tell us that Daedalus, creator of the image, constructed a Labyrinth so cunningly that he himself could barely escape it after he built it. We explore if this narrative still resonates in spatial simulated spaces, the sensorium and the moving body. The integration of computer technology into the world of theatre, and live video into the gameworld is a subject that remains aesthetically and philosophically problematic.
At the moment, prevalent is a strange and vacuous sort of vanity based on identity and form, optical gimmicks (think EyeToy) lead into questionable areas of media art as scientific/physical visualization, which removes us from the actual unfolding of the living human organism and its complexity.
If bodies are complex systems embedded in the environment, what does this mean when we experience a saturation of media images on a daily basis?
Daedalus ex Machina engages with 3D virtual space, networked performance and electronic media - we see this as a solid platform for an indepth collaboration about remote physical presence in its many facet’s but especially focusing on the element of liveness. We carve out new territory for the body to exist by excavating ancient notions of what consititutes a surface, coming to different insights about the connection and dividing line between self and objective world.
We construct our Labyrinth through the use of contemporary consumer electronics and entertainment technology, i.e. modified gamepads, webcams and a 3D videogame engine, through which the project investigates demarcations of the real and the virtual - and how these cross over in theatrical play.