For Matt Gray’s production of Richard III at Carnegie Mellon, MFA student Riley Harmon and I developed an interactive projection system of “static noise” on the bodies of actors playing the roles of “ghosts”. An infrared computer vision system built in openFrameworks is used to track the bodies of the “ghost” performers. Imagery of a dynamic noise pattern — resembling a malfunctioning “Princess Leia hologram” transmission — then appear projected into the bodies of the ghosts of Richard’s murdered victims, as they visit him in his sleep. Some preliminary teaser video, photos, and screencaps of the scene are below.
Please consider seeing the show by if you’re in Pittsburgh! The show runs through April 24th at the Philip Chosky Theater in the Purnell Center at CMU [map]. Performances are at 8pm, Tuesdays through Saturdays, with an additional matinee performance at 2pm on Saturdays.
In 1985, a research unit was formed at Carnegie Mellon called the “Center for Arts and Technology”. The interdisciplinary spirit was in the air — it was the same year that the Media Laboratory was founded at MIT. A few years later the CMU unit folded (I don’t have the complete history here) and was reborn in 1989 as the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry (the unit I have directed since last year). Occasionally I overhear discussions proposing the founding of a new Center for Arts and Technology … here and there … and I was led to wonder how much currency and unique value the phrase still has. Well, duh. Five minutes of fairly casual Googling now yields at least 30 places whose names include “Center for Arts and Technology”, and many more depending how strict you are about formatting. The names range from some well-established research centers in emerging arts (like Eyebeam) to a huge variety of vocational training centers, local media production facilities, neighborhood community centers, nursing certification programs, and high schools, to wit:
Ammerman Center for Arts & Technology
Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology
Beecher Center for the Arts and Technology
Burton Center for Arts and Technology
Carver Center for Arts and Technology
Centre for Arts and Technology, Halifax
Centre for Arts and Technology, Kelowna
Center for Arts & Technology Pickering Campus
Center for Arts, Science, and Technology at Stanford University
Cleveland Center for Arts and Technology
Donald Tavel Arts and Technology Research Center
Eastern Center for Arts and Technology
Eyebeam Center for Art and Technology
Louis Riel Arts and Technology Centre
Maryland Center for Arts and Technology
Mendel Center for Arts & Technology
National Center for Arts and Technology
Newell Center for Arts Technology at St. Lawrence University
Philadelphia Center for Arts and Technology
Sankofa Center for Arts & Technology
Sedona Center for Arts & Technology
South Monterey County Center for Arts & Technology
UCI Beall Center for Art + Technology
Vancouver Center For Arts and Technology
West Chester Area School District Center for Arts and Technology
West Michigan Center for Arts and Technology
Suffice it to say that I’m glad for my unit’s vague, weird and mysterious name.
Next week, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry will host the Wats:ON Festival, which brings interdisciplinary artistic innovators to campus to share their insights through a diverse offering of lectures, performances, workshops and exhibitions. This year’s festival has been curated by Pablo Garcia and Spike Wolff, and is themed around “Virtuality” — events include a lecture presentation by Erkki Huhtamo, artist presentations by filmmakers Anthony McCall and Ernie Gehr, a Machinima Film Night curated by Friedrich Kirschner, an arcade of interesting computer games, and more. All events are free, open to the public, and include snacks. A complete program of events is available from the image link below or in this PDF:
Live cinema artists, Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder will make a public performance and presentation next Wednesday at CMU! My lab, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, once again partners with Professor Melissa Ragona to bring an artist lecture/performance to Pittsburgh this spring. Coming up next Wednesday (March 3) at 6:30pm is an event featuring Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder, who will present and discuss their live audiovisual performance work for multiple film projectors. All events in the STUDIO, room CFA-111 in the College of Fine Arts building, Carnegie Mellon Campus. Events are open to the public and include snacks. Full details in the following PDF:
Robotics artist Eric Singer will make a public lecture/performance next Wednesday at CMU! The lab I direct, the STUDIO for Creative Inquiry at Carnegie Mellon, is partnering with Professor of Art Melissa Ragona to bring a series of artist lecture/performances to Pittsburgh this spring. Coming up next Wednesday (February 17th) at 6:30pm is a presentation by leading robotics artist Eric Singer, founder of LEMUR (the League of Electronic Musical Urban Robots) — followed on March 3rd with a presentation by live cinema performance artists, Sandra Gibson and Luis Recoder. All events in the STUDIO, room CFA-111 in the College of Fine Arts building, Carnegie Mellon Campus. Events are open to the public and include snacks. Full details in the following PDF.
