Man in |e|space.mov / motion analysis in 3D space

Abstract

The article documents the theoretical and aesthetical basis of the interactive dance performance "man in |e|space.mov". The text discusses the abstraction of the human body in this performance by an interactive costume of light whose motion is analyzed by a 3D motion-rendering programme, which assembles and recombines the captured frame in real time in electronic 3D space. Thus appears a juxtaposition of 3 visions on the body making up the representation: the eye of the spectator, the camera and the 3D camera view: 3 visions constituting the contemporary body. Furthermore, the text questions the dislocation of the sensual body in physical space to the reading of body as a data in the matrix of virtual space in performing arts.In order to investigate the meaning of the aesthetics of abstraction, and dislocation of human body in performance art and motion analysis, the article puts 'man in |e|space.mov' in perspective to historical references of the 20th century, in particular to the work of the physiologist and pioneer of cinema J. E. Marey and the Bauhaus artist O. Schlemmer.

The Body Beyond Movement: (Missed) Opportunities to Engage with Contemporary Dance in HCI

“…The first category presented, 'technical framework', encompasses papers presenting low-level technical contributions for developers. The category yields 9 results (21%) and includes papers that contribute to new computational techniques, for example a visualisation system that exposes movement qualities for dance through rendering effects [1]; frameworks, [1], [4], [15], [26], [38], [48], [57], [63], [67] C1.2 Research through practice 8 (19.0%) [28], [29], [32], [35], [36], [53], [54], [56] C1.3 Theory and methodology 7 (16.7%) [2], [13], [16], [27], [37], [47], [55] C1.4 Support tools for dance 11 (26.2%) [10], [11], [12], [14], [17], [19], [22], [31], [60], [61], [64] C1.5 Artistic work and process 5 (11.9%) [9], [40], [41], [49], [65] C1.6 Dance archive / documentation 1 (2.4%)…”

Reinterpreting Schlemmer's Triadic Ballet

“…Shallhorn [44] created a digital stage machine -a stage augmented with interactive real-time technology. Ka [24] aimed to achieve human body abstraction via an electroluminescent interactive costume. Both demonstrated novel approaches for digital technology use in performance.…”

Challenges for Creating and Staging Interactive Costumes for the Theatre Stage

“…But in our literature overview we did not find any projects that integrate interactive costumes. This is different in performance arts, where computational systems often relate to the performer's body [1,4,16,28]. The majority attaches technologies to the performer and generates audio feedback from movement [4].…”

“…Nowadays, artists use the human body as a surface for projections [1] often relying on camera-based tracking. A few projects integrate light output into the performers costumes, usually with LEDs and lightstrips [16]. The light-arrays suit [28] goes beyond this with integrated laser beams that dynamically project into the environment.…”