[PD] [ot] [!nt] \n2+0\ TRANSDANCE REPORT

[integer at www.god-emil.dk]

Content-Type: CLAUDIA/zpoond; format=flowed

From: "ALAS" <alas at ath.forthnet.gr>


''e-phos 01''    TRANSDANCE REPORT
''e-phos 01''    athens' festival of digital culture

    ''phos''         light in greek

                       Apologies for cross posting

                       Here you will find the final report of the Research 
Lab on body, motion and
                       technology  ''TRANSDANCE'', produced and hosted by 
festival ''e-phos 2001'',
                       in Athens, 23-31 May 2001.

                       For more info and photos click 
<http://www.filmart.gr>www.filmart.gr
                                                                or 
<http://huizen.dds.nl/~sdela/transdance/report>http://huizen.dds.nl/~sdela/transdance/report; 


for the ones who are interested enjoy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




"T R A N S D A N C E''<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = 
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Research Lab on Body, Motion and Technology

Organised and hosted by festival "e-phos 2001''

23-31 May 2001, Athens, Greece

By Scott deLahunta (UK/ NL)



Description:

The TRANSDANCE research laboratory was conceived and organised by Yiannis 
Skourogiannis of ALAS as a part of "e-phos 2001'', the 3rd International 
Festival of Digital Culture, from 23 May - 2 June in Athens. "e-phos 2001'' 
was entirely devoted on  the BODY KINESIS and BODY ANAMORPHOSIS and 
included a wide range of activities such as telematic dance perfomance, 
multimedia theatre perfomance, live electronic music festival, video games 
festival, festival of documentaries on art, sm fashion show, lectures, and 
new media exhibitions.

TRANSDANCE was advertised on the website 
<http://www.filmart.gr>http://www.filmart.gr as a 'dance and technology' 
research lab on 'body, movement, technology'. The dates of the research lab 
were 23-31 May, 2001, the precise location was in two warehouses located 
behind IME (Foundation for the Hellenic World) at 254 Pireos str., Athens, 
Greece.

The lab was structured as a research project for professional artists with 
established practices. This means there was no separation between 
'students' and 'teachers', and all learning took place in the context of 
peer to peer exchange. The international selection of invitees came from a 
diverse range of artistic backgrounds: electronic music, the visual and 
theatre arts, dance and performance art, interactive/ digital media and net 
art. They were: Sophia Lycouris (UK); Jenny Marketou (USA); John McCormick 
(AU); Konstantinos Moschos (GR); Alexandros Psychoulis (GR); Konstantinos 
Rigos (GR); Yacov Sharir (USA); Christian Ziegler (DE). My role was 
described as research or process advisor for the project. The production 
coordinator was Maria Softsi, 
<mailto:mariasof at compulink.gr>mariasof at compulink.gr.



Summary:

The TRANSDANCE (always uppercase) research laboratory explored a variety of 
interfaces between the physical and virtual worlds. While taking the theme 
of 'dance and technology' as a starting point, TRANSDANCE supported a wider 
range of conceptions of the physical body or bodies, from the trained to 
the everyday, the social and the collective. It focussed on the virtual 
space as a networked space that can function as a performance space, a 
shared, creative, social and playful space. Through exploring interference 
and mapping processes, the participants worked towards realising the 
transformative possibilities inherent in emerging technologies. The lab has 
given rise to three extended projects (an animation and telematic project 
and a documentary). Hopefully the following report presented as a set of 
open conceptual tools and methodologies will help disseminate the results 
of the research to the wider community where further artistic investigation 
needs to continue to inform the technological developments in these areas.



The conditions for research:

Before TRANSDANCE, I had participated in four research projects of varying 
scale involving digital media, electronic networks, live performance and 
choreography (Migratory Bodies, Chichester College of Higher Education 
[UK], Summer 1998; Digital Theatre Experimentarium, Aarhus University 
[Denmark], Winter/ Spring 1999; Hot Wired Live Art, Bergen Electronic Arts 
[Norway], Winter 2000; Cellbytes, Institute for Studies in the Arts 
[Phoenix, AZ], Summer 2000). These projects each brought together a range 
of creative expertise, e.g. choreographers, dramaturges, composers, 
writers, digital media artists, programmers, scripters, graphic designers, 
video/ filmmakers, telematic and installation artists, etc. They have 
involved a variety of technologies from basic audio video graphic editing, 
to interactive systems (sensors/ triggers), mobile technologies and high 
end motion capture systems. Each project has involved the building of or 
use of an existing electronic data network to a) facilitate the sharing of 
materials and b) to support real-time performance interaction.

As one might expect, the research agendas and conditions for these projects 
have varied widely, depending on the mix of organisers, participants, 
cultural/ institutional contexts, funding and resources available, physical 
location, preparation work, etc. The aims and objectives of each project 
have not always been very explicit, partly because of the difficulty in 
knowing precisely what these can be beforehand. Usually some area of 
technology research that will be coordinated with an exploration of live 
performance forms is articulated (such as was done for TRANSDANCE). Often, 
some general cultural themes having to do with the transformation of the 
physical world confronted with emerging technologies are taken as a 
starting point for content exploration. The collaborative nature of these 
events is sometimes made explicit and an object for analysis during the 
working process while other times not. In all of these projects, there was 
an effort made to present something at the end of the event in order to 
give public access to the work that was done. Other forms of public 
dissemination of research outcomes have been through making project related 
videos, cdroms, websites and articles in journals.

Each of the projects mentioned above was a rich and productive environment 
for learning and exchange, but amongst these TRANSDANCE provided an 
unprecedented mixture of technical expertise and facilities, diversity of 
artistic approaches and the space and time to do some very focussed and 
specific research work.



The conditions for TRANSDANCE :

The organisation of the TRANSDANCE research laboratory followed a series of 
lectures on digital and interactive dance organised for the Festival of 
Dance of Kalamata in July 2000 by Yiannis Skourogiannis and the ALAS team. 
His e-mail of 4 September 2000 to me outlined the initial concept for the 
TRANSDANCE May 2001 event as follows: "... the invited artists will be 
provided the necessary means to work towards a completed event or concept 
that will use either the physical space, or the virtual space, or the 
combination of both."

The preparations over the next several months were mostly left to Yiannis 
until we had a confirmed list of participants. Following this, I took on a 
greater role as process advisor for TRANSDANCE which involved making 
regular contact with the participants and organisers via an electronic mail 
list (yahoogroups.com), identifying what resources would be made available 
and what sort of research everyone would be interested in pursuing (for a 
short list of the hardware/ software that was available see below). From 
these discussions, two main research areas were specified: 1) to set up for 
some web streaming and possible influence from viewers/ on line audience; 
2) real time 3-D environments. There was also an interest in exploring some 
scenographic/ installation possibilities in the physical space, but due to 
various circumstances, e.g. the Vicon system took up much of the space, 
etc., it was decided to place less emphasis on this area.

"Web streaming" refers to the use of technologies such as Real Player 
<http://www.real.com/>http://www.real.com/ and Quicktime that are able to 
compress and deliver audio/ video to the desktop via what is referred to as 
a 'live' stream. A popular technology for broadcasting using the internet, 
the player software for viewing the streams is available for free and often 
comes bundled with browsers such as Microsoft's Internet Explorer. The lab 
participants were interested in going beyond the broadcast model and 
exploring the interactive possibilities of using live streaming with the 
involvement of an audience. Despite the fact we had on hand the 
StreamGenie, Pinnacle's portable system for live, multi-camera web casting 
<http://www.pinnaclesys.com>http://www.pinnaclesys.com, it proved difficult 
to explore this area in depth as this would have required the organisation 
of additional resources such as an online server and more technical 
expertise to support artistic experimentation in the streaming medium. (For 
some artistic work already done using the possibilities of streaming media 
please see John McCormick's site 
<http://www.companyinspace.com/home>http://www.companyinspace.com/home and 
Jenny Marketou's Smellbytes site 
<http://smellbytes.banff.org/>http://smellbytes.banff.org/)

We did have the technology and expertise to move forward in the second 
research area: real time 3-D environments. For this, we had the unusual 
good fortune to be able to work closely and for almost the entire 
laboratory with high end Motion Capture technologies. Briefly, Motion 
Capture refers to the computer hardware and software that makes possible 
recorded digital 3-D representation of moving bodies. Recording sessions 
involve the placement of markers or sensors on strategic positions on the 
body that provide the basic information for the computer software. The 
expense of these systems, which includes the cost of the equipment as well 
as the expertise to run it, is quite high with developments being driven 
primarily by the industries such as medical, military, entertainment and 
advertising that have the necessary capital. These costs make it difficult 
to pursue investigative artistic work. For some insight into recent uses of 
Motion Capture technologies in the field of dance go to 
<http://www.arts.uci.edu/lnaugle/html/mcs/>http://www.arts.uci.edu/lnaugle/html/mcs/.

We were informed quite early on that there would be a "state of the art" 
Vicon Real Time (<http://www.vicon.com>http://www.vicon.com) Motion Capture 
system brought over from the United Kingdom and installed for us to work 
with, to include technical support. It is my understanding that this was 
arranged as an exchange with the Athens based AMY Digital Video company 
(<http://www.amy.gr/amydv>http://www.amy.gr/amydv). AMY provided the 
technical facilities and support for the lab and had access to the Vicon 
system for the purpose of marketing and demonstration. The system installed 
for TRANSDANCE used twelve high resolution infra red cameras to capture the 
position of 20 plus reflective markers placed on the performer. To this, 
John McCormick was able to add another Motion Capture system, an 
electro-mechanical suit often referred to as an "exoskeleton" made by 
Analogus / Meta Motion 
(<http://www.metamotion.com/>http://www.metamotion.com/) and called the 
"Gypsy". This system is able to sense, capture and process the motion data 
in the suit itself. Both of these systems would be able to drive an 
animated character in real time through Kaydara's FilmBox Motion Capture 
software (<http://www.kaydara.com/>http://www.kaydara.com/).

With these systems, one is able to move in the motion capture suits (either 
wearing Vicon's marker suit or the Gypsy exoskeleton - or both at the same 
time) and simultaneously drive a three dimensional animation in the digital 
space of the computer. From a commercial broadcast industry perspective, 
this is often referred to as Performance Animation meaning real time 
animations can be used in the context of live media events - examples often 
used are to imagine the weather announcer on the local television station 
giving up-to-date forecasts in some animated form or combining live actors 
from remote locations as animated characters sharing the same scene. From a 
dancer's perspective, the possibility to watch one's movement in real time 
from any angle including from directly below to directly above is enabled 
in these systems and, despite the encumbrances of the respective body 
suits, as a movement visualization system for a dancer this has as yet 
unexplored possibilities.

Exploring real time interaction in 3-D environments evolved into a primary 
research trajectory of the TRANSDANCE laboratory. We were able to 
demonstrate in the final presentation a scenario that involved Jenny 
Marketou performing everyday domestic actions (e.g. cleaning the space, 
etc.) wearing the exoskeleton while sharing the same digital/ virtual space 
with a pre-recorded animation of one of the other participants. Jenny's 
wrist movements were mapped to the position of the other animation in space 
(vertical and axis orientation) so that as she performed her simple 
everyday tasks - the audience could see on the screen the outcomes of her 
actions in this shared virtual space. This demonstration built a 
representational bridge between a prosaic set of activities and a highly 
technologised, non-everyday virtual space. Jenny was also able to interact 
in the physical space with audience members making more explicit this 
connection between physical and virtual spaces. This was by no means a 
finished artistic work, but exemplified how it is that a research 
laboratory can produce an effective working demonstration of the artistic 
possibilities of a set of technologies. Out of this research, plans are 
underway to organise a larger scale telematic performance event linking 
three of four Greek Islands in the Aegean using some of these technologies 
and to advance some of the explorations made at TRANSDANCE.



Working at the level of the data:

interference/ mapping/ systems

In his useful survey of the field of electronic, communication, video and 
computer art, Art of the Electronic Age, published in 1993 Frank Popper writes:

"Although digital processing is more than a mere improvement in the 
treatment of the image, and although computer editing may dramatically 
change the traditional concepts of image-making, the main breakthrough in 
this area takes place in the synthetic generation of the image. Being a 
virtual image produced by mathematical formulae, the video image, unlike 
the traditional pictorial image, can only be considered as a proof of the 
model it simulates, not as a copy of a pre-existing object or model in the 
real world. Moreover, a three-dimensional synthesis enables the artist to 
intervene not only on the image, but inside the image. Image has become 
architecture, a space to visit, to explore in various ways. Editing, often 
highly sophisticated, has been replaced by a scenographic concept." pp. 76-77

A long quote, but it sums up a fundamental difference between the images we 
are accustomed to seeing on television and in the movies, which are 
rendered as two dimensional fixed entities, and the possibilities for 
developing digital artistic practices that expand on the new possibilities 
inherent in the production and manipulation of digital objects (images, 
sounds, texts, graphics, etc.). We can find the same concepts covered by 
other writers on new media, for example, Lev Manovich's recently published 
(MIT Press 2001) The Language of New Media in which Manovich attempts to 
develop useful terminology for the analysis and understanding of the 
processes and products of digital media. He describes a set of five 
"principles of new media" and one of these in particular, the principle of 
"Numeric Representation", outlines the underlying structures of digital, 
programmable media in ways that support Popper's proposal that the digital 
artist can intervene not only on the image, but inside the image.

This ability to work with the numeric properties of a new media or digital 
media image or sound means that in artistic terms, the basic materials of 
the new media/ digital artist is not necessarily the image or sound itself 
which is essentially a representation or manifestation of the underlying 
numeric representations or mathematical formulae (although this view does 
not take into account the needs of an audience/ viewers). Essentially these 
underlying numeric representations can be broken down further and used to 
represent a variety of "surface" media. Surface media refers here to the 
image or sound, text or graphics that are the generally accepted new media 
means for communicating and producing meaning for the viewers/ users. 
Generally speaking, today's average computer user/ consumer does not grasp 
the underlying numerical systems that lie at the heart of computation. 
However, for an experimental (non traditional) artist working with new 
media, it is normally not sufficient to simply manipulate the surface media 
as this does not allow for an interrogation of the basic materials or 

principles of the digital media - as defined both by Popper and Manovich.

For TRANSDANCE, interference became the operative metaphor for working with 
technologies that were available to us - many of which were mainly 
targeting the user/ professional/ specialist who prefers to work in a more 
traditional sense to manipulate the surface representations of the media. 
To explain a bit further, the StreamGenie system (mentioned in detail 
above) and DPS Velocity (broadcast television video editing system 
<http://www.dps.com>http://www.dps.com), were two hardware/ software 
combinations we had access to that are designed as increasingly 
miniaturized and transportable broadcast studios. The dozens of editing 
features are designed to produce endless graphical variations and 
combinations of image, sound and graphics. However, the systems are 
generally built to support an industry that is not in a position to 
interrogate or practice modes of interference in the images and sounds and 
graphics that it needs to produce in seemingly never-ending new (re) 
combinations for the consumer market place.

This is what is significant about organising an artistic research 
laboratory such as TRANSDANCE. David Chalkidis, from the commercially 
oriented AMY, summed it up for me in a short discussion we had about their 
support for the project by saying that the technology is developing so fast 
that those producing and selling for the market and the consumer do not 
have the time to keep up with and explore how best to use these new tools. 
For David, this is the role the artist can play, and his brother Alex and 
he are committed to trying to put these new media tools in the hands of 
artists to explore. I think I write the words here for all of the artists 
who participated in the project that AMY's support for the laboratory (and 
including the Vicon Motion Capture support team David Lowe and Tim 
Doubleday) was exemplary, beyond anything any of us had experienced before 
in similar types of research situations.

We wanted to interfere with the digital images, sounds, etc. by getting at 
the core of the digital media to the level of the data, and we explored the 
possibilities in three or four different scenarios. One of these was with 
the Motion Capture system in which normally three streams of information 
per marker or sensor are received by the computer to drive the animations. 
These three streams are roughly equivalent to the X, the Y and Z 
information that translates to the Cartesian coordinate system, the 
culturally accepted mapping of the physical space we still rely on today - 
despite the fact that Descartes devised this coordinate system almost 400 
years ago.

Another of our research aims was to try and map one of these data streams 
across the network to drive sounds being synthesized in Kostas Moschos' 
computer. This would link the movement of someone wearing one of the Motion 
Capture suits (Vicon or Exoskeleton) to the sound synthesis patches Kostas 
had programmed in MAX. There would be too much data if one were to take all 
the coordinate information from one marker, so this would require being 
able to strip out the data stream of one of the coordinates and send it 
over the network to Kostas' computer. In the end, we were unable to 
accomplish this mapping in the time allotted due to constraints in the 
Kaydara Filmbox software, at the time the only means at our disposal for 
accessing the real time motion data streams in the first place. While 
failing at the task, in the process discoveries were made that may enable a 
faster resolution to the problem in the future.

Working for several days to solve a technical problem may seem at odds with 
an artistic process, in particular when the problem is not solved. If 
indeed we had accomplished this mapping of the Motion Capture data to the 
sound the question could have still been raised - so what do we do with 
this capability now once we have it? This question needs framing from 
different perspectives, firstly, solving the technical problem of linking 
motion capture to sound using these particular systems is a step forward in 
that it gets the software and hardware to do something it was not designed 
to do. It interrogates or interferes with the software/ hardware system as 
an agent for the marketplace and opens up other options for thinking 
creatively about technology research and development. This is what might be 
described as solving a technical problem within an aesthetic framework. The 
resulting solution can be shared as a technical tool amongst a larger range 
of practitioners, enabling them to experiment in other artistic contexts 
with the results. Shared of disseminated as an open methodology (similar in 
concept to 'open source'), the technical solutions find a manifestation in 
material form elsewhere.

As mentioned above, we were successful at another mapping process and that 
was to link the movements of Jenny Marketou to another virtual character in 
the 3-D space. In addition, data streams were extracted from another 
process using NATO.0+55 modular, a software programme that facilitates 
cross media synthesis, and sent to Kostas Moschos as will be described in 
more detail below.

Interference and Mapping may describe two forms of artistic process, but 
the diversity of artistic practice represented by the TRANSDANCE 
participants inspired the formation (or appropriation) of a conceptual tool 
I found quite useful as a pragmatic way of framing the interrelationships 
between participants, technologies and processes. This was to loosely 
employ the concept of self-generating systems across the wide range of 
these interrelationships. Thinking in systems can be rather easily applied 
to a technology, e.g. a network that may, for example, be an open or a 
closed system. A closed network system might refer to a setup with input 
and output and maybe one or two machines on it - and with no access to a 
wider network. Such a 'closed system' network can enable the prototyping of 
certain artistic concepts more easily than an open network for example. 
Once set up such a system can be seen as stable for the purposes of an 
intensive collaborative research process.

I am interested in applying this concept of 'systems' more broadly to 
further enable generative working conditions and cross practice 
fertilizations in the circumstances of a research laboratory such as 
TRANSDANCE. (While this conception was not employed explicitly during 
TRANSDANCE, several participants contributed to its formation, in 
particular Christopher Ziegler.) The blurring of boundaries around various 
traditional forms of artistic practices appears superficially to disable 
convention and enable experimentation and perhaps emergent art forms. This 
has always seemed an overly simplistic view to me when applied generally 
across all circumstances as it so often is under the heading of the 
'interdisciplinary'. There seems an even greater need these days to be able 
to apply a self-referential system to arts practices of all kinds in order 
to re-enable interpenetration of practice and the potential for emergent, 
unexpected phenomenon.  This should be on a contingency basis, a flexible 
and workable set of protocols that can be applied to the situation as 
necessary and enable relocation and migration of certain aspects of 
practice between various systems more easily.

For TRANSDANCE for example, we had choreographers, digital artists, visual 
artists, net artists, performance artists and electronic musicians. Each of 
these categories implies a self referential system in the form of 
historical and philosophical continuities, of communities and cultural 
production networks that provide a sense of coherence to any one of these 
categories of arts practice. 'Categories' might be an optional term to use 
// but it does not appeal as much as the notion of 'systems'. Taken more 
broadly, systems might be seen as social and cultural and indeed the 
concept has been applied to both biological as well as social systems by 
theorists working from the General Systems Theory developed in the 1950s. 
However, this is beyond the scope of my report to go into further detail. I 
share it here as a conceptual tool I found useful in these circumstances, 
and I may return to its application in the future.



Parallel Projects:

nato/ wearables/ choreograph-animation/ documentation

As this report indicates, the primary research aim of the workshop was to 
explore the possibilities of real time Motion Capture systems in exploring 
shared 3-D environments. The sharing of this data occurred over a high 
speed Ethernet (a closed system), but the Motion Capture X Y and Z vector 
data itself is a relatively small data stream (as compared to the full 3-d 
animation) and could potentially be used to drive an animation in real time 
on another server across the Internet. This may be explored further in 
another research laboratory.

Other research objectives were pursued in parallel to the primary research 
into real time 3-D environments, e.g. Christian Ziegler migrated an 
existing performance software tool written in Director's Lingo script 
called SCANNED 
(<http://www.movingimages.de/scan.htm>http://www.movingimages.de/scan.htm) 
to NATO.0+55 modular (a digital cross-media synthesizer). Christian's piece 
SCANNED uses a software performance tool that plays a video image in the 
background and is able to stop the image playing one horizontal or vertical 
line of pixels at a time. These horizontal or vertical lines can be 
triggered as single lines or sequentially moving across the screen from 
side to side or up and down. Whatever image is playing behind the scan 
appears to be frozen in time. By migrating this concept to NATO, Chris has 
enabled new interactive possibilities for SCANNED as NATO comprises a set 
of Quicktime externals building on and interfacing with MAX in the same 
manner as MSP so that MIDI and numerical data can be used to control any 
NATO function. This will open up Chris's SCANNED system to other systems. 
He has migrated an existing aesthetically coherent work from one platform 
to another that will offer more possibilities for transformation.

NATO.0+55 modular has many features usually referred to as 'patches' 
because of the way it interfaces with MAX. The Difference plugin and Quick 
Draw were two used during the final presentation of the research laboratory 
- each set to analyze motion from a video source in different ways and out 
put this data to sound and image.

Chris's research was of a very practical nature and involved many hours 
"inside the machine" studying and problem solving. At the same time, a 
conceptual project was evolving with the emergence of the notion of the 
everyday user's body interfacing with the virtual space. This conceptual 
project was founded on the presence of three technology systems offering to 
provide an interface between physical and virtual space that would use the 
whole body instead of just the fingers. Two of these systems have been 
mentioned, the Vicon Real Time and the Gypsy Exoskeleton motion capture 
systems. A third system was available - the Wearable Computer 
choreographer/ dancer Yacov Sharir had brought with him from the University 
of Austin, Texas.

The wearable computer is clearly something we are inching closer to day by 
day as computing science and engineering research laboratories focus on a 
future in which wearable computers are assimilated into our world. The use 
of the wearable is already embraced by the field of mobile workers from 
telephone repair to Federal Express, by the fashion industry both as 
cultural statement and means of collective communication, and into the 
fields of leisure and exercise where monitoring of vital sign information 
such as heart and respiratory rate can be performed by the wearable (see 
the Lifeshirt: <http://www.lifeshirt.com/>http://www.lifeshirt.com/).

The concept of the wearable computer has penetrated live performance in the 
field of electronic music and to a lesser extent in the field of theatre 
and dance. One example of this would be Marcel.li Antunez Roca's AFASIA 
which was performed at the "e-phos 2001'' Festival 
(<http://www.filmart.gr>http://www.filmart.gr). In this performance, 
Marcel.li wears an exoskeleton that allows him to interact and control 
sound, multimedia images, video and robots.  In the dance field it is more 
common to find artists working with interactive motion sensor or motion 
capture system. This has partially to do with the emphasis on unrestricted 
motion in dance. Generally, the 'wearable computer' introduces some motion 
constraints on the body therefore apparently rendering it less than ideal 
for the dancer/ performer. However, in Athens, partially due to the 
presence of the wearable and the nature of the motion that can be performed 
in it, we were able to engage in questioning the assumptions regarding full 
body motion that usually come bundled with the concept of choreography and 
dance.

Yacov's wearable has been designed with the intention of being able to 
wirelessly control live performance material. However, the world of 
wearable computing seems to suggest less the specialist functions of an 
artist and much the sort of technological systems we may in some not too 
distant future be integrating into our daily moment to moment existence (as 
mentioned above). Yacov's wearable consists of a small computer mounted in 
a heat insulated vest along the surface of his body with a small keyboard 
strapped to his wrist and a tiny head mounted video display window. The 
system is wirelessly transmitting data to a server enabling Yacov to 
control and manipulate media in real time in a live performance. Some of 
this data includes signals from EEG and EKG electrodes that he can place on 
his body during performances. While the conditions weren't right for us to 
experiment extensively with the data we might have received from this 
technological system, the presence of Yacov's wearable at TRANSDANCE helped 
to open up some of the conceptual terrain we explored in the laboratory.

****************************************************



Two further parallel projects evolved during the laboratory. For one of 
these a selection of approximately 20 minutes of high quality motion 
capture data was recorded using the Vicon Real Time system of 
choreographer/ dancer Konstantinos Rigos improvising several short segments 
of varied movement material. This motion capture data was turned over to 
Rigos and a professional MAYA animator, Spyros Frigas, to collaborate 
together in the making of a short animated film to be realised at some 
point in the future.

Final mention in this report goes to the documentary project begun by 
interactive installation artist Alexandros Psychoulis during TRANSDANCE. 
Alexandros observed and filmed the laboratory and interviewed all the 
participants. He edited together two short clips from the first and second 
half of the lab that proved invaluable when shown to the public to help 
them understand the process of the research. These short clips were 
constructed to be shown in the context of the laboratory and with some 
explanation. Alexandros and Yiannis Skourogiannis are in the process of 
raising funds to make a more thorough documentary to be shown to the 
public. This subsequent documentary, when completed, will be an important 
additional means of disseminating the objectives and outcomes of the 
research process of TRANSDANCE.



Scott deLahunta

Writing Research Associates, NL

Sarphatipark 26-3, 1072 PB Amsterdam, NL

mobile: +44 (0)797 741 2060 [messages too]

fax: +44 (0)845 334 2931

email: <mailto: sdela at ahk.nl>mailto: sdela at ahk.nl

http://huizen.dds.nl/~sdela/main.html





Scott deLahunta  BIO

Began in the arts as a dancer and choreographer. Since 1992, as a partner 
of Writing Research Associates (WRA), he has organised several 
international workshop/ symposia projects in the field of performance 
including recently the third session of Conversations on Choreography at 
the Institute for Choreography and Dance, Cork, Ireland. From February-May 
1999, Mr. deLahunta was a guest professor with the Department of 
Dramaturgy, Aarhus University, Denmark where he was also co-organiser of 
the Digital Theatre Experimentarium, a project investigating the 
relationship between motion capture, animation and live performance. He is 
frequently invited to facilitate workshops, give presentations and 
contribute to publications on the overlap between dance and new media 
technologies. In Autumn 2001, the WRA initiative *Software for Dancers* 
will conduct the first in a series of research labs/ thinktanks looking to 
develop new software tools for performance artists.



"e-phos 2001''

artistic director: Yiannis Skourogiannis

57 Archimidous GR-11636 Athens

tel:00301-7520064-5

fax:00301-7520064

<www.filmart.htm>www.filmart.gr

<mailto:alas at ath.forthnet.gr>alas at ath.forthnet.gr



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