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GOOD NEWS: DANCE+TECH @ Tendu.TV

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 29, 2008 at 5:30am

Hello dance-techers, I would like to announce that dance-tech.net will be producing a DANCE+TECH program for TenduTV (www.tendu.tv) starting this fall. I am very happy and proud about the opportunity of bringing the visions and performances of our field to a broader audience. DANCE+TECH will show the depth of the research, the complexity of the topics, the engagement of the practitioners and the relevance of embodied practices. An of course the fun of working with dance and new media. dance-tech.net is a community focused on innovation, creativity, generosity and self-discipline. DANCE+TECH/the program will amplify its pulse. This is my commitment! DANCE+TECH/The program adds value to your participation in the network and bigger exposure because it will bring more visitors to our site. It is in our dialog that these and new programs will emerge! Thank you Marlon Barrios Solano PS: we also have new logo! Press release: TENDUTV REINVENTS THE STAGE WITH DANCE-TECH FIRST ADAPTATION OF A SOCIAL NETWORK INTO LONG FORM PROGRAM NEW YORK, July 28, 2008 - TenduTV (www.tendu.tv), the first broadband channel focused on dance video, announced today an agreement with online community Dance-Tech (www.dance-tech.net) to adapt the social network into a self-titled monthly, long-form program. Dance-Tech will feature in-depth interviews with leaders, scholars and innovators in the performance art world who are taking advantage of new technologies in creating their work. The Dance-Tech program and related content will be made available through TenduTV's distribution, syndication and advertising partners beginning in the fall of 2008. "The technologies enabling both the art and science of movement have entered into an amazing and significant growth phase" said Marc Kirschner, General Manager of TenduTV, "in the last few years, movement and technology have combined to form the Segway, the Nintendo Wii and Oscar Pistorius, the double-amputee sprinter who nearly qualified for the Beijing Olympics. Dance-Tech will showcase a combination of technology and artistry that will educate and amaze." "We're thrilled to have the opportunity to invite more people to participate in our discussion," said Marlon Barrios Solano, founder of Dance-Tech and host of the Dance-Tech program. "With the larger reach of the TenduTV network, Dance-Tech will be able to share our community's passion and accomplishments with a much wider audience." Dance-Tech will be co-executive produced by Marlon Barrios Solano, Marc Kirschner, and Kevin Harkins. Early featured guests will include choreographer Gideon Obarzanek, of Australia's Chunky Move, who combines real-time motion tracking, generative animation and lasers to create unique dramatic landscapes, and Amsterdam-based choreographer Emio Greco, whose Capturing Intention research project has revolutionized the field of dance notation and documentation with its findings on computer based gesture analysis. ABOUT TENDUTV TenduTV (www.tendu.tv) is a broadband television channel featuring staged and filmed modern and contemporary dance and ballet performances from both established and emerging choreographers. The TenduTV channel will be launching in the Summer of 2008 on select video platforms, including TidalTV (www.tidaltv.com) ABOUT DANCE-TECH Dance-Tech (http://www.dance-tech.net) is a Ning-based social network catering to an international community of artists, scholars, technologists and organizations working within the disciplines of performance, science and new media. Members of Dance-Tech showcase their work, share ideas and opinions, and find collaborators for future works. Dance-Tech was created by former dancer Marlon Barrios Solano, who serves as Social Media Specialist for Dance New Amsterdam and is the Online Festival Coordinator for the Dance Films Association.

Cabaret Cataplexy Monday July 28th @ The Slipper Room, 167 Orchard Street

Posted by Monstah Black on July 27, 2008 at 7:33pm

Artist-driven Curating and How it Could Help Galvanize a Screendance Movement

Posted by Anna Brady Nuse on July 24, 2008 at 12:14am

At the Screendance conference at ADF two weeks ago, I presented a paper that put forth an argument for the value of "artist-driven" curating in developing and galvanizing an art form. I wanted to propose a way of raising awareness about screendance among dance communities that would help dancers to feel like they can enter this art form that is new to them with a set of useable skills and knowledge already in place.Click here to read the full article on Move the Frame.

boDig08: call for installations

Posted by aylin kalem on July 23, 2008 at 7:23pm

Call for InstallationsboDig 08 – “ara-yüz(süz)”Istanbul, 15-25 September 2008Multidisciplinary artistic creation platform boDig is organizing a series of events called “boDig 08” on “bodies & technologies” within the frame of the International Project “Absent Interfaces Lab”. The partners include L'animal a l'esquena (Celrà/Girona) www.lanimal.org and Centre for Drama Art (Zagreb) www.cdu.hrboDig 08 includes stage performances, installations, artists’ labs, workshops, public meetings and club events around live arts and new media technologies. boDig focuses on innovative and experimental works without restricting the medium, and this year encourages the applying artists to approach the theme of “absent interfaces” in their installation works. The deadline for artists to apply with their installation works is August 15th. The selection committee will give priority to artworks that use an intellectual and critical approach to the embodiment of current technologies. For more info and application form: http://www.bodig.org/bodig08/bodig_08_eng/application.htmlSelection CommitteeDr. Bernhard Serexhe (Head Curator, ZKM- Media Museum)Philippe Baudelot (Multimedia Consultant)Defne Ayas (Curator, PERFORMA)Derya Demir (Art On Stage)Aylin Kalem (boDig)About boDigboDig is an Istanbul based contemporary arts association founded in 2007, focusing mainly on the issues of the body in contemporary arts and digital culture. Its artistic understanding has a multidisciplinary scope, bringing a variety of fields together, like dance, performance, visual arts, design, architecture, new media, engineering and medicine, in order to bring forth a reflection and artistic creation around the issues of the body in its contemporary and technological context.www.bodig.org

TRENCH

Posted by CreationEditor on July 21, 2008 at 2:40pm

Hello,my video TRENCH is currently in the final round of the Virgin Media Shorts...you maybe received this post before but please watch, vote for my video again and forward it!http://www.virginmediashorts.co.uk/film/1612819705SHORT ABOUT THE VIDEO:Trench – war made on a £30 budgetEdinburgh-based filmmaker Sabine Klaus shows how to get a cinematic look on a zero budget. In April 2008 she teamed up with dance duo Company Chameleon to produce the promo ‘Trench’ for their upcoming show ‘Rites’.The slightly abstract story is performed by Anthony Missen and Kevin Turner who portray two young soldiers going to war in an unknown land. Suddenly they are confronted with the real terror of bombs and living in a daily angst of getting shot. Those extreme emotional situations bring them closer together as friends. Until one of them realises the senselessness in the suffering while the other one seeks the moment of glory.After studio rehearsals, storyboarding and a rekkie, the trailer-style video was filmed outside Penicuik at night and the budget was spent on torches, petrol and energy bars. Director of Photography and Editor Klaus shoot the entire project on a Canon HV20 and then finalised it in Final Cut Pro with special effects added in from After Effects.Shooting at night-time generated an accentuated look while the hand-held torches enhanced the performers’ movements. The overlaid footage creates confusing parallel scenarios as well as reflecting the protagonists lost sense of space and emotional disorientation. The sound produced by Al Lorraine mirrors the actions; one soldier is building a human rifle out of his comrade whilst a gun being put together is audible.Meanwhile the 4-minute video premiered at the IAM-Digital Event and a short version of Trench is currently broadcasted on Virgin Media Shorts .More information can be found on Sabine Klaus’ website www.creationeditor.co.uk .Thank you very much for votingSabine Klauswww.creationeditor.co.ukinfo@creationeditor.co.uk

Full Body (milk) Scanning @ Eyebeam, NY

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 19, 2008 at 10:30pm

inkscanner @ eyebeam Mixer from Friedrich Kirschner on Vimeo. The technique in Your Tube:

Friedrich Kirschner's page

Report on Screendance:State of the Art 2 at ADF

Posted by Anna Brady Nuse on July 18, 2008 at 1:55pm

Linda Sabo (back of her head), Vicky Bloor, and Steph Wright at the Screendance conference.photo: American Dance Festival 2008/Sara D. DavisI'm finally home after several weeks on the road, crossing the country and then heading south for the second Screendance: State of the Art conference at the American Dance Festival. The topic for this year's conference was CURATING THE PRACTICE/CURATING AS PRACTICE. There were about 20 registered participants, coming from all over the US and Europe, and we were a good mix of artist/makers, teacher/scholars, and curators. While some of the old topics came up (like what is the definition of screendance?) the presence of the over-arching theme of curating helped guide many of the discussions into new territory, and keep us on topic.Douglas Rosenberg, a filmmaker, scholar, and organizer of the conference started off the proceedings with a lecture about the history of curating as it arose out of the visual arts field and how this practice has gradually slipped by the wayside with the rise of the festival model in screendance. He spoke about the original premise of curating in the art world as a means of creating meaning by grouping different works of art together. This combination of art works creates a meta-narrative between the pieces and can serve to support a thesis about the art put forth by the curator. In this way curating can help shape new ideas in art.I appreciated learning about how curating differs from "programming", which is generally how dance film festivals work. For a long time I've felt dissatisfied by the programs at festivals, particularly the shorts programs, because they can be such a grab bag of films that seem to have nothing to do with each other. Usually these programs are billed as the "best" new dance films of the year, with the dubious value judgment of "best" being the only unifying theme. With no other underlying meaning to connect the films together, I as a viewer often find myself feeling disappointed when the films fall short of my expectations of what "the best" dance film should be. I leave most screenings feeling like the vast majority of screendance is boring and uninspired, when in reality, I just didn't have enough context to view them under.Helping to illustrate this difference between curating and programming, there were several curated screenings during the conference as well as screenings that were part of the "Dancing for the Camera" festival. One of these curated programs was put together by Claudia Kappenberg, an artist and scholar from the University of Brighton and was entitled "Paradoxical Bodies." In her program notes Kappenberg described "Paradoxical Bodies" as seeking "to address the peculiar premise of real bodies on screen, in itself a paradoxical proposition, which mixes and purposefully confounds mental states and actual physical existence." With this introduction we watched seven experimental films that were often oblique and seemed to float in the timeless space of ritual. The program included ELEMENT (1973) by Amy Greenfield, HWRGAN (BY THE LATE HOUR) (2006) by Simon Whitehead, K (1989) by Jayne Parker, THE NIGHTINGALE (2003) by Grace Ndiritu, SAND LITTLE SAND (2006) by Becky Edmunds, IT IS ACHING LIKE BIRDS by Lucy Baldwin, and SPRUE (2004) by The 5 Andrews. Most of these films have never been shown in dance film festivals before, either because they are not generally considered "dance", or they are not the typical show pieces that would past muster with a festival's judging panel. Despite their challenging and experimental nature, I was captivated by this program. After Kappenberg's introductory statements I was prepared to grapple with the paradoxes, ambivalence, and alternative notions of the body put forth in these films, and I was freed from having to compare them to my usual standards of what's "good" and "bad". Instead, I appreciated them for what they each said to me within the framework of the program's topic.In contrast to Kappenberg's curated program, Sini Haapalinna, a freelance artist from Finland, presented a program of shorts from her first curation for the Finnish dance film festival "Beyond the Lens" which sought to show a snapshot of "the state of the art" of Finnish screendance. This was a good example of the usual festival model of programming, which culls work from an open call for entries, and then seeks to show the best ones of the group. While it was probably meaningful for Finnish audiences to see what work is being made in their own country, for an international group of screendance experts gathered in North Carolina, the program seemed jumbled and out of context. The works were all over the map in terms of style, production value, content, and intention. The result was a muddy program that had some nice isolated moments, but was somehow lesser than the sum of its parts. While Haapalinna probably didn't get the reaction she was hoping for from the conference attendants, it was actually really useful and informative for us to see this kind of program in light of the curation model Rosenberg had just presented. Finally we were able to critically respond to the festival model of programming, and articulate about why it isn't as effective as it could be at promoting and advancing screendance to the public.In my next couple of posts, I'll talk about my presentation on "artist-driven" curating, and summarize some of the other discussions that went on at the conference including a theory for mapping screendance by Kappenberg, how a curator's role is always political by Gita Wigro, and a modified Venn diagram for curators of screendance proposed by Martha Curtis.To be continued!

Open Source Dances: How this new Cultural Economy will affect dance industries?

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 16, 2008 at 7:00pm

Ars Electronica announced the festival for next september with a very interesting and provocative formulation: A New Cultural Economy: The Limits of Intellectual Property. The age of copyright and intellectual property has reached its expiration date. A development that already manifested itself in the technical fundamentals of the Internet has reared its head in the actual practices of a young generation of users and is bringing forth a new economy of sharing and open access. With this provocative formulation, Ars Electronica is placing one of the core issues of modern knowledge-based society at the focal point of this year's festival program. What’s at stake: the value of intellectual property, freedom of information and copyright protection, big profit-making opportunities and the vision of an open knowledge-based society that seeks to build its new economy on the basis of creativity and innovation. The crux of the matter is that we still lack practical, workable rules and regulations governing this new reality and—of no small importance—that the task of coming up with them ought not to be left up to lawyers and MBAs alone. After all, regardless of the perspective from which one approaches this issue—that of the Internet pirates, the inventors of a new information commons, the pioneers of a sharing economy or the apologists of the creative industries—one thing remains true: if knowledge and content actually are to be the new capital of postindustrial society, then they have to circulate and be accessible by all.

Michael Una performing at SYNC Fest 08

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 16, 2008 at 6:00pm

Michael Una performing at SYNC Fest 08 from Michael Una on Vimeo. From his Vimeo account: Michael Una (http://www.una-love.com/muna) of Chicago investigates how vibrating waves of energy and human consciousness interact. He utilizes traditional musical instruments, handbuilt analog electronics, video processes, digital synthesis, and repurposed objects to build harmonic wave patterns. These patterns are projected into physical space, creating a unique and temporary audiophysical experience.

Rythmn & Feel Performance

Posted by Andrea "budafly" Rodriguez on July 15, 2008 at 5:00pm

Greetings!I am performing in NEW YORK CITY. If you are in the area please come and check out the show. I recently participated in a two-week intensive workshop on ISADORA with TROIKA RANCH.I will be showing a new workx that was conceived at TROIKA RANCH in which I attach the Wiimote to my body and use sound and music to initiate agency as a dancer controlling my own rhythm.Hope you can come. besos, budafly

Radiohead released data for music video with Creative Commons License!

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 15, 2008 at 6:00am

Radiohead just released a new video for its song "House of Cards" from the album "In Rainbows". No cameras or lights were used. Instead two technologies were used to capture 3D images: Geometric Informatics and Velodyne LIDAR. Geometric Informatics scanning systems produce structured light to capture 3D images at close proximity, while a Velodyne Lidar system that uses multiple lasers is used to capture large environments such as landscapes. In this video, 64 lasers rotating and shooting in a 360 degree radius 900 times per minute produced all the exterior scenes. Watch the making-of video to learn about how the video was made and the various technologies that were used to capture and render 3D data. See details in Google Code: http://code.google.com/creative/radiohead/

Dance Party in a Box: Hilarious and effective!

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 14, 2008 at 11:00pm

International Dance Party! The full length video of this crazy and funny party machine! from Niklas Roy on Vimeo. About the artists: Adad Hannah and Niklas Roy Montreal based video artist Adad Hannah and Berlin based machine artist Niklas Roy met each other for the first time in Wroclaw, Poland in 2005, where they decided over a beer to build this machine together. After quite a time of planning and discussing the project's details, Roy prepared the hardware parts and the machine's software in his workshop in Berlin, while Hannah organized the funding for the project. In October 2007, both met again in Hannah's studio in Montreal to assemble the device within one month. David Cheong aka Baddd Spellah joined them both in late 2007 to produce the generative music which booms out of the IDP. About the machine The interactive machine International Dance Party is a complete plug 'n' play party in a box. The machine comes as a large, non-suspicious looking flightcase. Internally, it is equipped with cutting edge radar sensing technology, an ear blasting state of the art 600W sound system, tons of psychedelic light and laser effects, and even a professional grade fog machine. Read the whole post here: http://archinect.com/features/article.php?id=76964_0_23_0_C

Research 2008

Posted by CreationEditor on July 11, 2008 at 12:35pm

- For nearly ten years my work and research has increasingly revolved and dealt with the meaning of movement through video art, installations and live performance. I am working on my personal research project called ‘Performance Practice X’ which investigates into the effects of visual stimuli through vision onto body and then through the body onto an emotional level. My interest particularly focuses on how to increase participation and experience of the audience. ‘Performance Practice X’ is split into five key subject that concentrate on:1. metakinesis (muscular empathy): interactive video installation (e.g. art work ‘Projector Dancers’ using the software G-Vision to create interaction between video and viewer, 2007)2. kinesphere (body in space): enclosed video installations (e.g. art work ‘FEEL’ re-created womb-like scenario in a cushioned box with built-in loud-speakers and video, 2005)3. hypnotical movements: future research focus (2009/2010)4. composition (SHAPE): psychological effects of body geometry (current research focus, 2008)5. live: direct physical interaction through performance art (e.g. The State of Play performances physically incorporate the audience, 2007)My research and work constantly inspire each other, professionally and artistically. Each of the five themes of Performance Practice X is re-used in my working practice and blended together. The goal is to create a concise and accessible concept of all five that can be of benefit to the presentation of art and commercial video editing because it supports the understanding and incorporation of the viewer.more on www.creationeditor.co.uk

Are SecondLife Avatars, 3D Animations and Motion Capture Ready for Dancers?

Posted by Doug Fox on July 8, 2008 at 12:23pm

Here's a post I wrote this morning in my Kinetic Interface blog. I look forward to comments, especially from those who have worked with motion capture and 3D animation.Summary: There are a number of efforts underway to make the 3D animated human form more lifelike. These developments are taking place both in virtual worlds such as SecondLife and with 3D animations initiated through motion capture systems. The end result will be the creation of personally-identifiable animations that move and act as their real-world counterparts.These advances in 3D animation coupled with improved and less expensive capture technologies and animation software will, I believe, lead to large numbers of dancers experimenting with virtual worlds and different approaches to creating more realistic animations. Quality dance animations offer new avenues for creativity, marketing, studying choreography, revenue generation and the re-staging historical dance works. But the question remains how long it will take before the tools and software will be realistically ready for the dance community.In this post, I cover:* The Avatar Puppeteering project from Second Life* Hands Free 3D's movement-based approach for controlling avatars* The Laban Motion Capture Project at NYU* The PhaseSpace active marker optical motional capture system* Facial capture from Mova[Read post...]

Better than Reality continues…

Posted by V2_ on July 7, 2008 at 5:27pm

Better than Reality is a project in which artistic use of augmented reality is explored, the project consists of a series of residencies this summer and workshops and presentations in the fall/winter of 2008. The three artists in residence explore various sub topics: Marnix de Nijs (NL) will continue his Exercise in Immersion 4 project, Boris Debackere (BE) researches spatial sound and Jonas Hielscher (DE) will work on 3D and visual aspects of augmented reality. In the fall of 2008 a series of workshops will be given, open to (art) students, artists and other professionals who are interested in artistic use of augmented reality. A large public presentation will conclude the project in the winter of 2008.

Augmented Reality is an umbrella term for various techniques that make it possible to add virtual elements to the physical world, for example overlayed visuals or spatialized sounds. The technologies needed to create such environments are however still very experimental and therefore often inaccessible to artists. To enable more artists to create augmented reality artworks, V2_Lab has developed a software/hardware platform called VGE (V2_ Game Engine), based on Ogre3D, OpenAL, Blender, ultrasound positioning and SIOS (Sensor Input/Output System developed at V2_Lab). The user wears a set of stereo video displays that show a mix of 3D visuals and real world video, from a head mounted stereo camera. The position in space and orientation of the head are tracked, and the geometry of the real space is modelled in the virtual space. This makes it possible to fix the virtual world relative to the real world, e.g. a virtual object can disappear behind a real wall. Our aim is to extend VGE into an accessible authoring environment for augmented reality environments.for more information about the Better than Reality project, please contact Jan Misker at jan@v2.nlBetter than Reality is supported by the Mondriaan Foundation and MultimediaN

Gideon Obarzanek got the Cinedans 2008 Jury's award and the public award!

Posted by Marlon Barrios Solano on July 6, 2008 at 4:00pm

Chunky Move, got the two awards at the Cinedans 2008 festival in Amsterdam. His piece called "Dance Like Your Old Man" is remarkably clever, full of heart and disarming in its simplicity and conceptual strength. He collapsed documentary, feature and dance film in the scenes in which six women imitate their dads' dancing and make them present in our imagination. These unseen men come to life through the dances and reflections of their children.

Congratulations Chunky Movers!

Find more videos like this on dance-tech.net

MAX Month 1 - An Analogue Style Stequencer

Posted by Kenneth Harte on July 3, 2008 at 9:38pm

Hello,I availed of the fantastic DANCE-TECH.NET promotion and got MAX/MSP/JITTER at the student discount rate of €250... (thank you very much Marlon) - One of the conditions is that I write a blog report of my experiences with MAX/MSP/JITTER at least once a month for 6 months.....So far MAX is cool. I have a reasonable knowledge of MIDI and analogue gear. I have a good knowledge of synthesis in general, I have used other modular software environments like Synthedit and I have a small analogue modular synth. So many of the general concepts involved in MAX are not new to me. The names of the modules themselves can be quite new to me. Words like Borax, Funnel, ZLJoin, Coll don't mean much to me. Words like counter, seq, random, velocity 0... these words are OK for me.Right now I am interested in MAX as a control for my analogue gear, as a way to record and process live audio, and as experimenting box for doing live electronic sound. I am not as interested in building synths. I don't want to build the softsynth to rule them all. The softsynth that is sooo powerful and has soooo many options that nobody really knows how to use it. I just want to make little bits of things that I can use in a live and experimental way. I want to use MAX as just another module in my modular synth.MY FIRST BUILDMy first build is an ANALOGUE STYLE SEQUENCER. It's all done with Multisliders which are variable between 2 and 64 steps, the multisliders repeat the fader positions if I jump from 8 to 16 steps, it sends MIDICLOCK OUT. There are 3 sequencers PITCH/GATE ON-OFF/CV1 - this matches my Kenton Pro-Solo MIDI to CV converter. The sequencers can be independently stepped in 1 of 3 ways - Forward/Backward/Random. Also the faders positions of all 3 sequencers can be independently randomized. All 3 sequencers are MIDI Controllable (up to 16 steps) which matches nicely with my Behringer BCR2000. No filters, envelopes or tones... all that is done on the analogue modular.I learned a lot from building it. One of the things I learned is MAX is very particular when it comes to the flow of numbers. T B F messages are new to me. So it's a little tricky trying to work out the exact order millisecond events have to take. Sometimes I just connect multiple objects without using a trigger message and move them around on the screen to see which position gives me the right output. It's strange hearing the sound change as you move the little object boxes around as if you can hear the numbers calculating away in the background.UGLY MATH vs PRETTY EXPRESSIONRight now I'm very much in the ugly math camp. My patches seem to have lots of - + == < > / and plenty of ???? - I look at the expressions used in some of the patches found on the Cycling 74 forum and wonder where they got them. I can solves the expressions easily. The unfortunate thing is I do not need to solve them (max does that) I need to understand how to formulate expressions. I wish there was a big book that told you how to formulate simple expressions. I get a lot of X ? Y. The ? relates to the function that connects X and Y together. I know X and I know Y but how X becomes Y confuses me. I sit there endlessly dividing and subtracting and multiplying and then I go to the MAX forum and find this incredibly simple expression that does exactly what I want. I look at the expression and it is so simple but I still cannot figure out how they formulated the expression. For me I think it might be ugly maths for a while yet.Anyways that's enough of a rant to justify my first months blog. Month 1 and I finished a randomizable MIDI controllable sequencer that I can use to control my external synth. Not bad....Next month - Live Looping????

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Note: this page contains paid content.

Note: this page contains paid content.