record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00363
Thesis Title
I Move In Decades
Author
Ellen Pearlman
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Master of Arts
Year
2011
Number of Pages
120
University
University of Calgary
Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Kenneth FIelds
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Dr. James Parker
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Interdisciplinary Graduate Program
Languages Familiar to Author
English
URL where full thesis can be found
Keywords
Telematic Art, motion capture, data mapping, World Trade Towers, 9/11, Visual data, dance
Abstract: 200-500 words
I Move In Decades is a work of visual art, gesture, movement, and sonic representations translated into hybridized data combinations and communicated over a high speed telematic research network. Data mapping creates interactive productions and responsive environments over vast distances. Data describing human motion impacts transdisciplinary processes. This thesis describes a series of experiments leading to a work using physical gestural data as a compositional indicator in telematic productions. Theoretical and artistic concepts leading to the interpretation and evaluation of this data in the context of a complex international networked performance will be discussed. The technologies of motion capture, data mapping and visual effects produced in both VDMX and MAX/MSP is shown to be experimentally problematic in multimodality arts practices. Data describing human motion can disrupt creative practices in terms of new combinations but does significantly impact transdisciplinary processes. The technical part of the investigation explored the use of a 12-camera EvArt infra-red motion capture technology and body mapping. I translated body motion into triggers for visual effects by recording the data of three locations on a dancer's body; the joints of the wrist, the ankle and the elbow. Tracking the range of these movements on a motion capture grid the data of these joints X, Y and Z positions moving in space were recorded. The Y position was set to trigger visual effects when reaching specific parameters in a range. This data was sent over the network and transformed by a C++ program that changed it to OSC. The OSC data was imported into a MAX/MSP/Jitter patch to trigger visual effects in a remixed video. An alternate method was deployed using live time effects sent over the network using VDMX.