performance art / interactivity

[phluxm]

Anyone incorporating performance art into their sets? Like doin live body art linked to video imagery? Or crowd interactivity? Seen some vids of performance artists like Stelarc and guys who trigger imagery by connectors in their suits - untrue!!!!

After figuring that the audience are 80% of what you'll see at any gig, why not make em the center of attention by making interactive visuals? Anyone working with interactivity, audience participation etc?

Had idea to put radio-motion-sensors in glow sticks that relay values back to the PC. Also radio-mike-whistles - small radio mikes in the form of whistles. Would be wicked to get lighting levels to raise based on how many silent-whistles are goin off!

ahh well. we can dream...

[HuoLong]

i'm also interested on man-machine interfaces. i've only experimented with motion detection from live video but here's also something interesting: http://seamonkey.mle.ie/nime/Proceedings/paper/taelman.pdf

[elbows]

Totally this is my number one aim, Im very interested in this stuff.

Im looking at the following things but its taking a long time so I probably wont actually do a show for at least another 6 months, maybe longer.

Someone with a wireless video camera built into their "costume" walking round the dancefloor and the live video being part of the show

Human movement to midi signals via eyesweb or similar software

Unusual midi controllers - eg a midi ribbon which sends cc messages, built into the upper leg of trousers to that I can control visual parameters by rubbing my hands up and down my legs ala Vic Reeves

Various instruments with midi out to control the shows (eg drumkit) - Interested in working with musicians to combine sound & video & live instrument playing. Shame things like midi wind instruments cost a small fortune

This is mostly why Ive stuck to visualJockey for VJ output, as it seems to have more possibilities for controlling so many elements of the show through midi.

My rough plan at the moment is to try to get something reasonable knocked up for the Leeds VJ event in October, as I believe so far this is a slightly neglected area of VJing. I wont be ready to do a polished show, but rather something to maybe inspire others to explore this stuff.

What would be nice is affordable alternative midi controllers. Check out http://www.infusionsystems.com/ - the I-Cube-X alows a range of interesting alternative sensors to be used as midi controllers. But, the price is a bit much. So Im looking at more affordable DIY solutions. Things were progressing while but my friend who is good with electronics seems to have lost interest. So Im gonna have a go at dong it myself but I imagine it will take a while!

[infopocalypse]

Well for basic interaction I use a ton of live input, I will sample via firewire @ shows... have been known to be just as bouncy if not more than the DJ (depends on the DJ, and what he's playing).

For advanced interaction this group called Type-Zero in Pittsburgh is working on something that basically uses a camera to detect movements and make it really interact with a screen. I.e. their prototype has a fortune cookie that bounces around a suspended screen. If you jump in the air and hit the fortune cookie it explodes and sends a huge fortune onto the screen, then does it again.

I ran into Randy from Electolyte (really huge lighting guy, did World Music Conf last year) the other day and he said that he's actually brought the prototype out to a gig... so hopefully that will be in soon.

In addition to this HeyVJ's probably going to provide capture and sample from capture support.

[incise]

I've been thinking and dreaming along similar lines lately.

For example, to have in a huge festival some type of sticker that everyone receives on entry instead of a wristband.

The sticker has to be stuck on the wrist near the pulse. Every sticker has its own unique number and digital identity and there is some type of trigger or chip built into every sticker (sorry i have no idea about the technical side of this stuff I'm just throwing in an idea). Any chip can be read at any time by certain means(techies?). The pulse signal can be used to trigger audio or video. When somebodies pulse is being used as a trigger their number comes up as well. They feel and see their pulse as it beats inside and outside themselves.

Different pulses can also be mixed together over multiple channels. Peoples pulses interacting. mmmmm

:nod:

[HuoLong]

http://www.akustische-kunst.de/puredata/cvbox/
...
http://www.la-kitchen.fr/hardw/presentation_en.pdf
...

[AudioVisualizers]

Hmm, much to post on this comment, but brain a little overwhelmed right now. Some links of potential interest:

http://www.audiovisualizers.com/lounge/articles/costumes.html

and

Greg who makes the Touch VJ Soft, did this:
http://www.siggraph.org/s98/conference/club/

and an old friend, also from Toronto:

http://www.vividgroup.com

[cubo23]

well, these ideas are surely interesting. they have been my main interest for some time now.
i have been using a pitch-to-midi interface to manipulate digital images using sound. i have gotten great results, specially when the notes are generated by an electric double-bass. i also got nice results with a flute. voices are generally quite random.
as for software, i use MIDIPoet... i developed this software because i wanted a simple system that allowed me to use MIDI to control digital images and text.
if you want to try it, it's free. it works on a PC, and can be downloaded at
http://www.transit-lounge.com/vainasystems
there's an english version, and a spanish version too.
hope you find it useful.

[wellREDman]

not quite on the same level as some of those gizmos,
but one of our crew AlwaysB is what we call an LC which stands for live camera but is much more like a video mc,
he's got a wireless camera rig on a monopod that he dances with and interacts with the crowd, we generally find that audiences are more happier having a camera stuffed in their faces if it's being weilded by a technoclown grinning and bopping,
he also does a fantastic set using the mirror effect in pyschosis where he dances with his hands creating the most incredible realtime analog kalaidescopic stuff..
(he's also a damn fine filmschool trained cameraman if anyone in the uk needs some freelance camerawork done,he has a good camera, plenty of experience and a good grasp of stage work both for tape and for a vj feed)

[J0L0]

I started a thread which is related to this subject in the "software" section of VJ forum!!

Usefull links up till now:


- http://infomus.dist.unige.it/eywindex.html

- http://www.realityfusion.com/corp/products/

- http://www.infusionsystems.com/

- http://www.vividgroup.com

- http://www.setpixel.com

- http://www.mine-control.com/


Join the discussion (http://www.vjforums.com/showthread.php?threadid=502)



cheers, Jon

[vjvishnu]

Just wondering what the latest is with these ideas surrounding incorporating the body into video-performance either through tangible interfaces like wearable controllers (like the i-cube, doepfer and midi creator) or etherial interfaces like the real-time video tracking results made by programs (like Jitter, Eyes web, isadora, Big eye etc.)

Anyone working with these tools?

What do you think of them?

What have you achieved with them?

Anyone turned their body into the ultimate expressive tool yet?

I'm perticuarly interested in performance art and interactive installation.

Relevant links also welcome...:yep:

I find: The Butterfly Garden (http://www.hmc.uk.net/portfolio/the_butterfly_garden.html)

[bryandod]

http://www.playmotion.com/

interactive video projection for the kids.

:jump2: :jump:

[VJFranzK]

...or for ravers ;) where it'd be a big hit.

some nice progs, that "tree" module is quite artistic.

No listed price, so probably $ 5 - 10 k each? ;)

[fluchtpunkt]

yes, ...sort of.

[vjvishnu]

That kidz/ravers environment is wicked.

Nice work fluchy, your feedback is getting better.

Try this (http://tmema.org/messa/messa.html) link.

Good luck!

[VGA]

Animazoo Gypsy MoCap Rig (http://www.animazoo.com/products/gypsyTorso.htm)

oh, yes.

[vjvishnu]

That is the coolest thing I have ever seen.

It spanks the hell out of the pissy icube.

Its probably about 10x the price tho. I couldn't seem to find a price on it - anyone know? (something tells me my piggy jar isn't going to cover it just yet).

Although the yellow trimmings on the gypsy-gyro-14 remind me of those painful memories of 80's gym clubs, it still takes the buiscuit.

I wonder if you can do this (http://www.daimi.au.dk/~sdela/bolzano/illust.html#2) with it. (Scroll to illustration 2 if it does'nt automatically.)

The author of the article is my tutor Scott De La Hunter.

How long untill the VJ throws away the midi keyboard and just gets on down to the beat. Ofcourse the question then is what can us out of shape VJ's do that a dancer can't? Will we be reduced by this to mere technicians, creeping around offstage, sipping coffee, sucking up to the stage manager, and hanging out with the geeky lighting desk guys during the gig?

[autonomik]

I am using eowave stuff.

find it at www.eowave.com

[burch]

hi fellas,

i just checked out work at mine-control web site. very impressing.

now im interested in recognition of motion and accurate form of human body via camera(as they did in many of their works).

may there be some ways of doing this by visual-jockey? or do we need special algorithms like they used?

thanks in advance