Matt Gough Blog [closed]: practice, practice, implementation
Sunday, Nov 7 2004, 01:33
i've been neglecting my practice, with all this reading, problem solving and abstracted analysis there has been little time for motion. this is partly due to the lack of space, having no ready access to a studio is restrictive. when i was studying for my MA i would practice after the teaching day had finished for a couple of hours each day. it was a real time of growth... and what in part, lead me here. the importance of regaining that kind of time cannot be underestimated.
this is not an issue of fighting for the arts within my scientific context. nor feeling 'out of touch' with my artistic roots but a recognition that the knowledge embedded within my practice is more keenly recalled and transmitted when refreshed daily. sci - art practice is trendy, i'm not trying to be fashionable, but do what i think is important. this isn't dance (technology) wrapped in a veneer of (computer) science to make it credible, but to show what can be achieved through a combination of both disciplines.
that said, i don't think dance is always able to articulate the scientific principles that underly our practice well enough or often enough. beyond art for arts sake (something i do believe in, as well as 'high' art) there are several sold principles that can be used to back up our practice in varying circumstances. such scientific knowledge or qualification does not lessen the artistry of what we do, but sits alongside, mostly silent, until we engage in activities that requires it's application.
as my interest is in the simulation and synthesis, rather than the animation of dance the scientific concepts are speak louder than usual. what is implicit motive knowledge to the physical dancer must be 'taught' to the avatar (or golem, as i like to call them). this teaching does however involve aspects of artistry, making the golem appear realistic in say a ballet sequence, requires transmitting (encoding) the principles of ballet technique and performance. to attain something of the 'x' factor in the performance (in addition to the standard principles) we might use, motion texture (perlin noise, EMOTE etc.) or complex / emergent systems.
however we apply 'x' factor, it is worth remembering that not all dancers have it in the first place. therefore adding such 'textures' to a simulation is not covering up an inherent fault in the modeling but an accurate representation of real world circumstance. development, learning, education, training and communication are the face of many dance technology environments (and tools). computational aesthetics and interpretation deserves more attention than it currently receives.
interpretation is not segmentation and recognition, digital dancers require more 'sensitive' skills. 'reading' movement and providing an 'appropiate' response is a complex task. whilst mirroring, inversion, call & response and sectional mapping may be valid responses, any system limited to these options will quickly reveal it's limitations. to generate aesthetic responses we need a comprehensive way in which to generate movement that relates to the way in which movement is 'perceived' and notated.
this also applies to interpreting graphical dance notation where we need to transform rather than translate the notation. mapping from two to three dimension and generating motion from static marks.
there are a wide range skills and processes to model. teaching the golem a set dance or dance pattern is not enough, the golem must be capable of creating it's own:
these capabilities should exist in two and three dimensional constructs. from informal choreographic scribbles to live motion capture data my goal is to retain 'concept, context, content' in movement (dance) simulation. as Elizabeth MacKinnon [*] comments in her blog motive (reason to move):
These artists are working with technology because it makes sense, because it's instrumental, and even maybe partly the subject matter, but never letting the technology simply drive the product without any attention to concept, context or content. You don't have to ask what the point is. [concept, context, content] she is not talking about me, and i'm sure many people question the 'point' of my work, asking why i want to replace dancers. well i don't. in simulating the dancer i hope to reveal aspects of our practice that would otherwise remain hidden due to motive bias. i'm not looking at emotive, but motive responses to a range of stimuli that are cognisant, yet interpretive. concept context and context are at the heart of my work.
matt rss 2.0
[*] Elizabeth MacKinnon of collective (gulp) dance projects is currently studying for her MA in digital performance at Doncaster College. her blog is one of the few dance related links on my blogroll and i wish her every success with her practice and MA studies.
Filed by Article19 at 1:33 PM | 
Stumble It!