Motion-capture exhibition at ASU gives glimpse into new research

November 4, 2002

TEMPE, Ariz. – Another frontier has fallen to the steady march of digital technology. Video, once considered state of the art in documenting dance, has been replaced with three-dimensional motion-capture, a technology with almost unlimited technical and artistic potential.

A new exhibition at ASU’s Computing Commons Gallery, running Nov. 14 – Dec. 20, will give the public the opportunity to experience a motion-capture interpretation of legendary dancer Merce Cunningham’s hand and finger dance,Loops. The exhibition is presented by the nationally recognized Institute for Studies in the Arts in the Herberger College of Fine Arts, which also boasts the exhibition’s creators as its newest resident artists.

In Loops: A Portrait of Merce Cunningham, digital artists Paul Kaiser and Shelley Eshkar, together with Marc Downie, creator of the real-time graphics system, combine motion-capture technology with real-time graphics and rendering to create an expressive digital version of Cunningham’s solo dance for hands and fingers.

In the digital piece, the motion-captured joints become nodes in a 3-D space, linked by a network of lines that sometimes resemble the dancer’s hands, but at others creates complex cat’s-cradle-like patterns.

The work was created last year under the auspices of the M.I.T. Media Lab, although the team of Kaiser and Eshkar have worked together for a number of years, creating such groundbreaking visual art works as Ghostcatching (with dancer Bill T. Jones) and BiPed(with the Merce Cunningham Company.)

Cunningham, born in 1919, is a giant of 20th century American dance. He received his first formal training at the Cornish School (now Cornish College) in Seattle, Wash., and, from 1939–45, was a soloist with the company of Martha Graham. During this time he began to choreograph independently and in 1953 he formed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for which he has choreographed more than 150 works.

He has been honored with the National Medal of Arts, the Golden Lion award presented at the Venice Biennale, the Digital Dance Premier Award presented in London, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at America’s National Museum of Dance.

In the 1970s, Cunningham choreographed Loops, which he originally performed in front of a Jasper Johns painting at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Unlike his other solos, he has never set Loops on another dancer. Always first to experiment with new technology in the choreography and presentation of his work, Cunningham agreed to the 3D interpretation in 2000.

The creators of Loops: A Portrait of Merce Cunningham, are now participating in a three-year project with the ISA to further develop and “train” the new technology for broad use across the dance world and in other potential fields such as physical rehabilitation and security. Renowned dancers and choreographers, Bill T. Jones, Trisha Brown and Bebe Miller will also participate in the joint project of the ISA, Computer Science and ASU Public Events.

Titled Motione the research uses three video and eight infrared cameras situated within the ISA’s Intelligent Stage to record and render, in real time, the movements of a dancer wearing a full body suit with numerous motion-capture markers. This enables the computer to render a complex three-dimensional line drawing of the dancer’s movements.

The goal of the current research is to develop and guide the technology to the point where it can give a complete description of any gesture by the dancer, using both qualitative and quantitative parameters, creating a never-before-attainable level of detail when scoring and notating dance. This will be done by capturing a set of 70 micro dances that cover variations across the many movement parameters. These dances will be used as an instruction set for the technology.

The technology also will be developed so that it can be personalized to the user, learning and using an individual dancer’s own definitions of qualitative parameters. It is hoped that the result will be the creation of a common language for communication about movement, while still allowing space for individual expression.

The finished project is expected to premiere with performances in spring of 2005. For more information about Motione or Loops, please contact the ISA at (480) 965-9438.

Events:

Exhibition of Loops: A Portrait of Merce Cunningham: Nov. 14 – Dec. 20 at the Computing Commons Gallery. The gallery is open 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., Monday – Friday.

Artists’ Lecture: An artists’ lecture featuring Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Marc Downie will take place in the Computing Commons Auditorium, from 3-4 p.m., Nov. 14, and will be followed immediately by an opening reception at the Computing Commons Gallery.

An evening with digital artists Paul Kaiser, Shelley Eshkar and Marc Downie: 7:30 p.m., Nov. 16, at the Intelligent Stage in Matthews Center, corner of Cady and Tyler Malls, ASU Main, Tempe. Reservations required.

The Institute for Studies in the Arts is an interdisciplinary research center in ASU’s Herberger College of Fine Arts. In collaboration with the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences as well as other disciplines at ASU, the ISA supports creation, research, development, presentation and education at the intersection of the arts and technology. For more information of the ISA, visit http://isa.asu.edu.

Media Contact:
Jennifer Pringle
480-965-8795
jennifer.pringle@asu.edu Download Full Image

Student Production takes a cultural look at a classic story with “Antígona Furiosa”

November 7, 2002

WHAT: Student Production in the Herberger College of Fine Arts at ASU presents “Antígona Furiosa,” an abstract retelling of the Greek classic “Antigone.” This play deals with issues of remembrance and the struggle against oppression. “Antígona Furiosa” examines Argentinean culture and its struggle through years of deep and violent political structure.

Student Production is a student-driven organization within the Department of Theatre that is committed to providing opportunity, resources and support to ASU students who are ready for the challenge of bringing their artistic vision to life.

WHEN: November 17-19 at 7:30 p.m.

WHERE: The Student Laboratory Theatre at the Prism, 851 E. Tyler Street in the Ritter Building on the ASU campus (northwest corner of Terrace and Rural, just south of University Drive).

TICKETS: $3 available at the door only.

INFORMATION, TICKETS: Call 480-727-7877 or e-mail: student_production@hotmail.com

“Antígona Furiosa” retells the classic story of “Antigone,” the story of a princess wanting to bury her brother despite the law's refusal to let her do so. This retelling is placed in terms of Argentinean history, where thousands of women wanted only to know where their children were.

Known as the Mothers of the Disappeared, these women banded together to speak out against a government who had kidnapped, held, tortured and even killed these women's spouses and children. The parallel between Argentinean history and the story of Antigone helps give understanding to a classic play that may not seem relevant to today's times and also helps to show the struggles that have taken place in Argentinean life.

Griselda Gambaro, author of “Antígona Furiosa,” wrote the play in order to challenge issues of violence, oppression, and dominance in Argentina and in today's society.
Director Laura Dougherty, a graduate student at Arizona State University, finds herself deeply connected and very close to this story of Argentinean culture. She has studied the political and social situations of Latin America for years and studied in Chile for a semester during her undergraduate years. She looks at this story and this theme as a culmination of years of study, empathy, and passion and finds it a necessary message for today's audiences.

“I believe the themes of the play –struggle and remembrance, and remembrance through struggle – resound in Argentina and everywhere. It's somehow entirely hopeful despite its destitute nature," Dougherty says.

“Antígona Furiosa” is the second-to-last show in the Student Production 2002 fall semester. Ending the season is the classic story of the bible with some new twists and turns in “The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told,” by Paul Rudnick, running December 8-10.