Active Space Studio

Active Space is an interactive media system incorporating video-based motion tracking, motion capture, real-time video and audio synthesis, high bandwidth networking, and multi-channel visuals and sound. It is used to create interdisciplinary dance and theatre performances and media installations. The system continually senses, measures and responds to the movement of participants, providing an array of tools with which to engage and "play the space" as an instrument.

An Embodied Media Environment

Developed by media artist and software designer John Crawford in association with choreographer Lisa Naugle and composer Martin Gotfrit, the Active Space is a site for exploring integration of body-centered performance practices with motion tracking software, motion capture animation, live video and music composition systems.

Motion tracking involves real-time sensing and analysis of location, speed, duration and various other characteristics of movement. The results of this analysis are fed to a computer system that generates video and audio in response to the movement. Motion capture is the technique of sampling movement in 3D space and creating graphical representations of the movement. Typical applications of motion capture tend to result in realistic animations, but the aesthetic focus of our Active Space work goes beyond realism to explore notions of non-linear association, embodiment and reflexivity. We are particularly interested in the dynamic that develops between improvisational and compositional elements.

A central objective of our Active Space research is the development of imaginative forms of performance and installation, in which artistic vision and technical innovation share the spotlight. For performers, the Active Space is a different environment than they are used to working in. Traditionally, when technology is used in performance, it is common for performers to feel that the technology is "happening to them", out of their control. Our approach in the Active Space is to create a setting that allows performers to influence and interact with technical elements in a direct, immediate way. The qualities of this interaction can generate new internal imagery and enhance the performers' motivation, stimulating new forms of interaction between the performers themselves as well as with the technical elements.

In an installation setting, the Active Space system responds directly to visitors and their motion, creating visuals and sounds that can influence the ways people move in the space. The resulting movement calls up new sequences of sounds and images, potentially inspiring participants to further improvisational movement explorations. This cycle of interaction is exciting to experience, entertaining to watch, and is adaptable to a wide range of performance, workshop and exhibition settings.

Projects in the Active Space Studio

The Active Space Studio is a "work-in-progress" environment featuring this system in action, providing opportunities to "play the space" and create visuals and sound through movement. In addition to performances and installations featuring the system in action, Active Space Studio projects also investigate critical, theoretical and technical issues.

Through a combination of demonstrations, discussion and experiential exercises, Active Space Studio participants work with with powerful computer-based interactive tools, including Max/MSP/Jitter (an interactive media system). Participatory demonstrations introduce the interactive components and provide opportunities for embodied interaction with the system, exploring vocabularies of interactive experience between participants and technical elements related to embodied interaction.

Projects in the Active Space Studio will be of particular interest to dancers, choreographers, musicians, composers, actors, directors, visual artists, animators, videographers, interface designers, architects, computer scientists, engineers, and anyone intrigued by issues of embodiment, technology and interactive experience.

This diagram shows a typical Active Space Studio system configuration:

Acknowledgements

The Active Space Studio gratefully acknowledges support from:

Calit2: California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology

UROP: UCI Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program

Bren Foundation

Apple Computer

UCI Claire Trevor School of the Arts

UCI Department of Dance

Beall Center for Art and Technology