Thursday, November 24, 2016
A Cybernetic Dance Performance Explores the Future of Humanity
The Creators Project: Truly cybernetic humans are probably very far off, but this isn’t stopping people from worrying about the bridging of the human body and technology. In Convergence, a new interactive dance performance by students from the UK's Backstage Academy, a dancer explores a friction that is, in their opinion, rendering the human form “increasingly obsolete.”
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8 comments:
Wait what?! They installed a BlackTrax system to record motion data and then used that to generate content to drive a lighting rig. #NoBigDeal... I certainly would not have gotten that from the article title! That is pretty cool technical work. The choice to only use the BT system to record data and they play back a recorded sequence later is interesting. I think one of the awesome bits of how BlackTrax works is that you can use the system to live track performers or scenic pieces with moving lights. I still think the recorded sequence here is still extremely tuned to the movement of the performer, to a level which I do not think you could achieve with conventional programming, but in a sense I think a less impressive lighting design that utilized live data would have been more intriguing.
I think systems like BlackTrax continue to push the boundaries of how technology can aid and enhance what we do in entertainment, and I think any opportunity to utilize and learn about such technology while in school is fantastic. Good for these students!
This was a cool project, but I'm a bit confused about the opening lines of the article. They make it sound like there's some kind of huge artistic truth at stake when we combine human bodies and technological elements so that the dancer is controlling the technology instead of the other way around. In truth, I think that's a really cool concept that could be manipulated even further to great dramatic effect. For example, if the audience somehow knew that the performers were controlling the lights and then that "rule of the world" gets broken, it would open up a lot of emotional and plot-related storylines. I feel like the first few lines of this article were probably overdramatic just to get readers to keep reading, but I thought the concept that “...the technology that we created to facilitate our survival [is] eradicating the very thing that we seek to maintain” was a very overblown thought process that didn't really make much sense. What's the "vey thing we seek to maintain"? The student who said that made it sound like it's something we should all recognize and try to protect, but I have no idea what it is.
Although this technology isn’t at a place where it can be seen across the industry but the thought of a hologram as a dancer is pretty incredible. As much as this article talks about how data scanning technology will one day make the human art form obsolete, I would call that bold statement. There is a lot to be said for people that get up on stage and perform. As this technology begins to improve and become more common I see it becoming its own form of art. To completely replace the need for humans on stage would be a big leap to make. A more realistic integration of this technology might be data tracking going hand in hand with the live dancers. The possibilities are honestly endless when it come to this technology and if you can afford it I can image very interesting results. I hope that designers find a way to integrate both mediums in a way that will maximize the strengths of each form. I look forward to seeing what is next for this technology and others like it.
I agree with what Lucy said about this article. The first few lines made it seem as though this project was getting at some sort of deep moral issue. I understand the the question of "What is the limit of technology?" is an important one. I understand that we have started to reach the point where the line between artificial intelligence and human life has become thinner. I do not, however, think that this project gets at that moral quandary.
The technology behind this project is very impressive. I found the "behind the scenes" video very intriguing. I cannot imagine the work and engineering that went into this project. I am excited to see where this can go. The video seemed like a showcase of the technology's ability. I am curious, like Lucy, to see what happens when a plot gets added. I think this project has real potential to push the boundaries of media onstage and how it interacts with performers. I just don't think it has reached that point yet.
It is a neat idea to have the human dancer control the lights but make it look as if they are controlling the dance. A lot of people wonder if about the future in regards to technology and what will become of robots and cyborgs. I think that dance pieces like the one mentioned are an interesting medium to explore the concept. I think the creating of the design is extremely interesting as well. Having the lights tracked to the dancer says a lot about where technology is today and where it has come from. Having the ability for the lights to color the dancer is amazing. In that sense, the human is controlling the machine. I think it's fascinating and I wish that I could see the piece live. This is such an amazing way to make the conversation about technology accessible. I hope that others can see it and understand its statement, without an article explaining it.
This is such an amazing dance piece with breathtakingly beautiful lighting. It will be even cooler to watch the performance and the backstage tech video side by side. The background music choice is extremely strong, and the choreography delivers the sense of loneliness, isolation, and desperation. It feels like the dancer is controlling the lights because they move according to her body movements, and also in reality, the dancer is wearing a costume with built-in motion trackers so she is literally deciding where the lights go. But at the same time, she seems to be trapped in those lights. They are following wherever she goes and forming shapes based on her. It’s like the lights can read her mind, or even, shaping herself. Although I'm not a tech-savvy, I strongly espouse the close tie between art and technology and hope to see or even assist more artistic and imaginative way of using technologies onstage.
The intricate relationship between man and machine had been explored, envisioned, questioned by thousands of researchers, scientists and artists. This truly is a thought-provoking piece that will give you gooseflesh.
D3 and the BlackTrax tracking system are really cool and I hope I get the opportunity to play with them some day. I was a bit skeptical about the usefulness of the BlackTrax in this performance until I got to 2:20 where you can see the dancer pushing back against the actual volumetric beams of light through the haze, which is a really awesome effect. I'm not usually a fan of dance as a standalone form of entertainment, but I always get really sucked in when there is technology involved. I thought the integration of light and dance was really beautiful here, but I would have liked to see them push the puppet metaphor further. As it is, the dance was very visually interesting, but I am not sure how it addresses the goals she had set for herself of being critical of technologies ever encroaching hold on us.
This is a neat performance, but I'm not sure I would call it a dance piece. It looks much more like a light show that happens to have a human moving around within it. The motion-tracking lights provided some very beautiful moments, such as when the tiny squares were following her left hand. I wasn't a huge fan of all the strobing lights all over the stage, because I think they distracted from the dancer. It might have been more interesting for me had the dancer been dressed in black instead of white, so that she wasn't always glowing from the lights not pointed at her. Still, the integration of a motion-tracking system was very cool to watch. I would love to see it with multiple dancers all doing complicated movements. Personally, I would enjoy this piece more if all the crazy lighting tricks were toned down, but I am very excited for the future of motion-tracking systems.
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