45 research outputs found
Intimate bodies and technologies: A concept for live-digital dancing
This thesis considers the relationship between dance and digital media, and
considers a specific type of case regarding this relationship: live and mediated.
My motivation has been to identify and investigate, through practice, some of the
difficulties presented when live and mediated bodies are placed within the same
performance environment. In order to challenge some of the difficulties of what
I consider as the problematic medium of digital dance, this thesis offers an
examination of the ways in which digital media can positively transform the
processes of making movement, and explores how the assimilation of media, as
an integral agent within movement generation, can counter the dominance of the
digital.
Such dominance has been considered using a Practice As Research (PaR)
model, and thus the thesis exemplifies both the creation of, and a deep reflection
on, three works: Shift (2010-11), Betwixt & Between (2012-13) and
Modulation_one (2013-14). Through the development of these works, I have
sought to formally analyze and illuminate how media technologies, and in
particular projection, can enrich the processes for making movement. This has
been done in the context of a proliferation of digital technologies being available
within a studio setting. In particular, the works have been established from the
perspective of the dancer, which represents a specific case study for challenging
the dominance of the digital.
What follows in the written thesis is an analysis of what is a continuing and
emerging practice. The written thesis therefore serves as both a document of the
process and presents an illustration of a methodological approach for generating
synergistic relationships with movement and projection. This relationship is
proposed as a concept for live-digital dancing, which represents the main
contribution to knowledge. The term live-digital advances the idea that a dancer
is neither bound or restricted by either a live or digital construct, rather she is
inspired to move and respond, in the moment of performance, to an unfolding
assemblage of live and digital materials. Significantly, this has been established
through the experiential encounters of the dancer moving with simultaneous
projections of self. Live-digital therefore offers a methodological approach for
constructing digital dance performance environments, which place perception
and experience at the fore
Performing lost space: discussing an exercise in recording architectural detail with the performing body
The interior of the contemporary art space provides its users with a sterilised laboratory for the placement and experience of art. Increasingly, its bleached interior presents an a priori condition for the legitimate assignment of artworks within the complex milieu of the contemporary city. Such interiors have become an architectural typology, a predetermined homogenous non-place within which artworks reside. In this sense we can look to Lefebvre to understand the condition of the gallery space for âinasmuch as abstract space tends towards homogeneity, towards the elimination of existing differences or peculiarities, a new space cannot be born (produced) unless it accentuates differences.â (Lefebvre: 1991, 52) The work of the artist, by contrast, liberates difference. More specifically, the art of performance simultaneously generates and exposes marginal space within the gallery interior; a corporeal action that deposits residual stains and blemishes across the galleries internal skin, leaving marks and traces that resist homogeneity to create a temporary site of differential experience. The lost, forgotten or overlooked marginal zones and irregularities of a gallery space become a point of ephemeral spectacle and this paper addresses the impact of this spatial and corporeal collision.
The research that informs and situates these phenomena traces the irregularities, blemishes and scars that resist conventional mapping; marks that exist within an alternative, unconventional and unbleached space before, during and after a performance act. Recorded through orthographic drawing conventions, the research generated a narrative cartography of corporeal intervention within the interior of X Church Slumgothic, a heavily used semi-decayed community art space in Gainsborough. The co-authors of this research formed a practical collaboration that fused the dynamics and complexities of the performerâs body with the fixed conventions of architectural drawings. The discussion in this paper between performer and draughtsman explores how the body becomes an instrument to record and describe an arts interior beyond, yet from within, traditional architectural systems of representation
The curious nature of negotiating studio-based practice in PhD research:Intimate bodies and technologies
This short retrospective considers some of the important activities involved in negotiating practice in PhD research. By reflecting on my investigations into the embodied and somatic practices of moving in media-rich environments, I focus on my project Intimate Bodies and Technologies: A Concept for Live-Digital Dancing (Intimate Bodies) as a specific case in point. In my retrospective, I contemplate the often complex, changeable, and multi-layered processes of negotiation practice-based research, and discuss key topics such as methodology and knowledge as practice. Specifically, I reflect on some of the practicalities of exploring practice via a studio-based investigation and highlight a number of key discoveries that were encountered during the process. While the subject of Intimate Bodies is particular to the areas of dance performance and digital media, the methods and strategies developed are also applicable across a range of practical subjects. For example, the interconnections between practice and theory, as they played out in the studio context, highlighted some key landmark activities that necessitated a changed approach. This helped to define the emerging thesis and ultimately enabled me to explore the production of knowledge via practice. As such, some of the discoveries made pose interesting questions for the practice-based researcher
Taking care of bodies ~ Tracing gestures betwixt and between live-digital dancing
Abstract
This paper discusses some findings from practice-as-research into digital dance performance making. In an attempt to re-conceptualize the art of making movement, particularly as new technologies become more and more pervasive in art practice generally, this paper presents a personal perspective of the potential for âliveâ and âdigital bodiesâ to interact. Key to this interaction has been a philosophical appreciation of Erin Manningâs concepts of a âsensing body in movementâ and ârelationâ (2007,2011). Using Manningâs ideas as a methodology for rethinking the relationship between live and digital dancing, this paper explores how the integration of digital media into choreographic practices can begin to shift our understanding of how best to compose movement simultaneously in live and digital contexts. Furthermore, this paper aims to explore and further understand what it means to move within media-rich environments; moving towards a situation where the idea of âtaking care of bodiesâ extends to how such performance paradigms can begin to re-engage with performer/audience perception.http://people.brunel.ac.uk/bst/vol1201
From Analog to Virtual: Visual Stylizations of Humanoid Characters Across Media
Visual stylization and its impact on different aspects of the perception of digital human beings are commonly debated. This study investigated how fictional and non-fictional characters are represented in various media from the perspective of digital humanoid character design. Based on Zangwill's theory of Moderate Aesthetic Formalism, this study focused on the formalistic aspect of visual analysis and interpretation of media artifacts ranging from older media such as paintings to newer media, such as animations, interactive video games and mobile apps. This paper also explores several case studies of how humanoid digital characters are represented via visual stylizations across different media. This article underlines the importance of visual stylization as an opportunity to find unique and innovative ways of communicating with visual means
Lithium dancing (hidden in plain sight)
In this article I explore screendanceâs affair with social media, and the logics of production and consumption endemic to dancing for and with smartphones. I use an incidental encounter with two people making a dance video to try and make sense of the ways in which screendance practices and practitioners are being changed by social media technologies. The writing is built on the work of Harmony Bench, Shoshana Zuboff, Alan Jacobs, Zygmunt Bauman, Neil Postman, Yuk Hui and Annie Pfingst and Helen Poynor. I use their scholarship and art to construct an experimental and non-linear seven-part narrative about how screendance can become a set of practices that visibly contradict the extractive datafication of humans in motion.
Part 1âTwo young people and their cameraâdescribes the encounter with two people filming their dancing, and serves as the platform on which this writing is based. In part 2âAn assumption about what happened nextâI introduce the theme of hiding that runs throughout the article, and make a case for my assumption that these two people were making their screendance for social media. Part 3âAlgorithmic choreographyâintroduces the relationship between choreography in screendance and social media algorithms. Part 4âBeing in (the) economic commonâexplores the digital commons as outlined by Bench, and its relationship to visibility, technology and profit-making. Part 5âMyth and the right to a future tenseâdiscusses Jacobs and Zuboff and how they both deploy hiding to consider a future that transcends technocratic rationalism. In part 6âHidden in the future I zip forward far into the future and remember a 2016 screendance work by Annie Pfingst and Helen Poynor. I do this to as a strategy to imagine a non-technocratic world. Finally, part 7âTo distill production from consumptionâdescribes how, through social media, we in screendance have acquired a logic of consumption disguised or hidden as a mode of production
âDigital Dancingâ â âCan you see, what I feelâ â An exploration of the physical âexperienceâ of dance for Parkinsonâs through 3-dimensional motion analysis
This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Elsevier via the DOI in this record. âŻBackground
: Parkinsonâs is a common, progressive, neurodegenerative movement disorder of the central nervous system. Research has consistently shown that dancing can have a positive impact on the lives of people living with Parkinsonâs (PwP).
PwP who dance report that current measurement of the effects fails to appreciate the multifactorial presentation of the condition as well as the biopsychosocial potential of dance holistically.
Aim
: To explore the feasibility of combining measurements of whole-body movement using 3-dimensional motion analysis with the lived experience of dance for PwP, to see if it is possible to âsee (measure)â what PwP say they âfeel (experience)â when dancing, in a âmind/body approachâ
Method
: Thirteen PwP and ten Carers took part in three community delivered âParkinsonâs Dance Scienceâ classes followed by focus group reflection. Three PwP wore a 3-dimensional, motion capture suit that recorded whole-body movement throughout the class and were interviewed about their experiences.
Data were analysed using a âConvergent Parallelâ mixed methods design, mapping participantâs experiences and reflections over six biomechanical movement variables.
Results
: Quantitative results indicate that it is possible to use 3-dimensional motion capture to measure biomechanical change during and following dance in PwP but the amount and direction of change was different for each participant.
Qualitative results showed PwP felt the methods were feasible and reported a positive immediate and long-term effect of dance in a complete âmind/body experienceâ.
The sample size did not permit further analysis, but areas of development suggest it may not be the change in physical ability that is important, but more the perception of change following dance that is unique to each individual. Thus single measures of the effects of dance for PwP are likely to be insufficient when trying to understand the effect holistically.
Conclusion
: A âConvergent Parallelâ mixed methods research design, mapping the experience of dance for PwP (âwhat I feelâ) and their peers against biomechanical change (âwhat you seeâ) following dance is feasible.
Further research is required to develop the method with a larger sample to truly begin to understand the potential and effects of dance for PwP.NIHRSteve Brown Bursary Scheme â Dance for Parkinsonâs Partnership U
Shifting Interfaces: art research at the intersections of live performance and technology
Merged with duplicate record 10026.1/809 on 08.20.2017 by CS (TIS)This collection of published works is an outcome of my practice-led inter-disciplinary
collaborative artistic research into deepening understanding of creative process in
the field of contemporary dance. It comprises thirty written works published from
1999 to 2007 in various formats and platforms. This collection is framed by a
methodological discussion that provides insight into how this research has
intersected over time with diverse fields of practice including contemporary dance,
digital and new media arts and non-art domains such as cognitive and social
science. Fields are understood in the context of this research to be largely
constituted out of the expert practices of individual collaborators.
This research starts from an interest in the Impact of new media technologies on
dance making/ choreography. The collection of works show evidence, established in
the first two publications, of an evolving engagement with two concepts related to
this interest: (1) the 'algorithm' as a process-level connection or bridge between
dance composition and computation; (2) the empirical study of movement
embedded as a 'knowledge base' in the practices of both computer animation and
dance and thus forming a special correspondence between them.
This collection provides evidence of this research through a period of community-building
amongst artists using new media technologies in performance, and
culminates in the identification of an emerging 'community of practice' coming
together around the formation of a unique body of knowledge pertaining to dance.
The late 1990s New Media Art movement provided a supportive context for
Important peer-to-peer encounters with creators and users of software tools and
platforms in the context of inter-disciplinary art-making. A growing interest in
software programming as a creative practice opened up fresh perspectives on
possible connections with dance making. It became clear that software's utility
alone, including artistic uses of software, was a limited conception.
This was the background thinking that informed the first major shift in the research
towards the design of software that might augment the creative process of expert
choreographers and dancers. This shift from software use to its design, framed by a
focus on the development of tools to support dance creation, also provided strong
rationale to deepen the research into dance making processes. In the second major
phase of the research presented here, scientific study is brought collaboratively to
bear on questions related to choreographic practice. This lead to a better
understanding of ways in which dancers and choreographers, as 'thinking bodies',
interact with their design tools and each other in the context of creation work.
In addition to this collection, outcomes of this research are traceable to other
published papers and art works it has given rise to. Less easily measureable, but
just as valuable, are the sustained relations between individuals and groups behind
the 'community of practice' now recognised for its development of unique formats for
bringing choreographic ideas and processes into contact, now and in the future, with
both general audiences and other specialist practices