Syndicate: demo-performance

["norman" <norman@wanadoo.fr>]

Dear Syndicate,

info concerning a public presentation of our workshop, about to start up at
the International Puppetry Institute. If anybody's in the Karlsruhe
vicinity on August 15th, it would be good to see you - but please note that
the Medientheater has a rather limited capacity, so it would be wise to
book. Please note also that the Institute for Music and Acoustics is
programming a workshop presentation that same evening, moreover the final
evening for Perry Hoberman's Unexpected Obstacles exhibition, a "night
café" discussion being programmed with Perry. In short, this could/ should
be a lively moment at the ZKM. We'll certainly do our utmost to make it
unforgettable. Best wishes to all of you who are currently embarking on
insane estival activities; it's nice to know there are others riding out
the Ship of Fools. 

SJN


REAL GESTURES, VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS
Public demonstration/ performance, ZKM Medientheater, 15th August

Booking for tickets opens on August 1 at the ZKM infodesk.
Limited number of spectators, tickets priced 10 DM.
Telephone number : 0049 - 721 - 8100 1200


This demonstration-performance presents the results of a two-week workshop
held under the joint aegis of the ZKM Institute of Visual Media, as part of
its extended performance research for the European i3 eRENA project, and
the Institut International de la Marionnette (IIM) in Charleville-Mézières,
France, as part of its regular professional training programme. The
workshop aims to implicate corporeal and gestural art in the animation of
real-time digital image configurations; various kinds of computer generated
environments will be invested with puppeteering and gestural skills often
lacking in the computer graphics world.

The workshop's technology-free, bare boards phase at the IIM is focused on
body-object relations, using simple geometric objects made of an array of
materials with clearly different physical characteristics and behaviours.
The objects will be used as puppets in the execution of a number of action
sequences, to allow their handlers to grasp the specific dynamic
implications of the various figures and materials, and to "interpret" these
qualities to dramatic effect.We shall investigate the notion of "interface"
in its simplest forms as manifest in puppetry, i.e. as the mechanisms used
to animate and "bring alive" a puppet  (e.g. strings and rods). 

During the second week, working at the ZKM with a repertory of
computer-generated "doubles" of the geometric figures, scenarios developed
with the physical objects will be subjected to a range of technically
distinct configurations, using various kinds of trackers and software. The
physical objects will be brought to the ZKM to enable comparison of the
performance qualities of the digitised real figures with those of their
computer-derived counterparts, and exploration of the "mappability" of
physical object behaviour to computer generated bodies. Different computer
settings will be used (static and dynamic, abstract or integrating
figurative elements), and effects of these environmental changes on the
scenarios will be exploited for their dramatic implications.

Our workshop seeks to explore the mixed boundaries between physical and
digital objects and spaces, and our final evening will be a public showing
of "work in progress", rather than the staging of a polished performance.
We intend to make our "live research results" creative, playful, and
communicative â?? even though they are largely unpredictable !


PARTICIPANTS

Ariane Andereggen
Swiss actress; performance/ installation and video artist

Cyril Bourgois
French puppeteer, National School of Puppetry, Charleville-Mézières

Carlo Caloro
Italian puppeteer (string, glove, shadow); leather mask maker, commedia
dell'arte actor

Susan Kozel
Irish dancer, choreographer, philosopher; creator of several telematic
performance experiments

Britta Lenk
German puppeteer (string, glove, shadow and paper)

Reina Perdomo
Venezuelan interactive multimedia designer, dancer and choreographer

Ramon Rivero
Mexican-New Zealand puppeteer, 3D character and special effects animator

Iwan Peter Scheer
Belgian 3D animator, motion capture and games specialist, mime

Gisèle Vienne
Austrian puppeteer, National School of Puppetry, Charleville-Mézières

Kirk Woolford
American artist, programmer and designer


Workshop director Sally Jane Norman 

Institut für Bildmedien, ZKM [http://www.zkm.de]
Institut International de la Marionnette, Charleville-Mézières
[http://www.ardennes.com/asso/iim]
eRENA [http://nada.kth.se/erena/]