record

Thesis Info

LABS ID
00041
Thesis Title
The Kinesfield: a Study of Movement-based Interactive and Choreographic Art
Author
Gretchen Schiller
2nd Author
3rd Author
Degree
Ph.D.
Year
2003
Number of Pages
University
University of Plymouth
Thesis Supervisor
Roy Ascott
Supervisor e-mail
Other Supervisor(s)
Francis Rousseaux and Mike Phillips
Language(s) of Thesis
English
Department / Discipline
Dance and media arts
Languages Familiar to Author
French, Portuguese, Spanish and German
URL where full thesis can be found
Thesis available upon request
Keywords
interactive arts, movement practices, physical practices, kinaesthetic arts, dance media, Laban, choreography, body-medium
Abstract: 200-500 words
Through the exploration of practice and theory, this thesis aims to elucidate the characteristics of movement-based interactive art and the kinesfield, a term developed during the course of the research to describe the publics’ body-medium. Movement-based interactive art is based on choreographed movements of the body, media and specialized technologies which facilitate new forms of participatory movement experience. This emergent art form has initiated new methods of experiencing and presenting dance in the public domain.It is argued that this leads to new artistic developments which may constitute a paradigm shift of the concept of the body-medium in the field of dance. To understand whether the shift is indeed paradigmatic, and to contribute to the development of dance and technology, this study introduces and applies the concept of the kinesfield to extend the theory of the body-medium as kinesphere, first proposed by Laban, and to challenge its characteristics in the context of movement-based interactive art. The concept of the kinesfield is employed to describe the relational dynamic of movement interactions which traverse the body and material forms in unbounded space. By this account, the body-medium is not defined geometrically, as in Laban’s theory, but as a temporal and spatial field. The kinesfield accounts for a complexity of movement characteristics which pertain to the dynamic and relational experiences which occur between the biological body and its natural and atmospheric surroundings, natural forces, and its socio-cultural milieu. The argument unfolds as a triangulation of three movement-based interactive artworks (Shifting Ground, trajets, and Raumspielpuzzle) presented during the course of the thesis, my physical and experiential knowledge in the field of dance and an interdisciplinary literature investigation in the fields of dance, physiology/psychology/cognitive science, philosophy and sociology, plastic arts and cinema.This written document is accompanied by a CD-ROM which serves as an electronic appendix including images, videos and diagrams of the works referenced in the written thesis.