Kathleen Ruiz, Lisa Naugle, Barbara Kilpatrick, Vicky Shick, Sarah Plant, Elise Kermani

Ava:

a clone/avatar/ alter-ego

in orphaned space

Inhabit a simulation?

Which characters are :real: in the future?..will it matter

Techne - winds of the soul

by:

Barbara Kilpatrick - physical set design/set objects

Elise Kermani- sound composition and interactive design

Lisa Naugle- virtual choreography

Sarah Plant- composer/sound designer

Kathleen Ruiz- virtual character animation/set design

Vicky Shick- physical choreography

Proposal draft 05/07/01

We are proposing a new collaboration between dancer-choreographer Vicky Shick, visual artist Barbara Kilpatrick, digital media artist Kathleen Ruiz, choreographer Lisa Naugle and composers Elise Kermani and Sarah Plant. The project explores the interaction of digital character motion and human movement. The result will be a dance performance and installation premiering at the Arts Center in Troy, N.Y..

Since 1995, Shick and Kilpatrick have collaborated in creating pieces that combine movement and visual art. Shick's style belongs to the contemporary post-modern dance movement. Kilpatrick creates sculpture that functions as set, costume and prop. Together, they have presented dance performances and installations at such New York venues as the Harkness Dance Project at the 92nd Street Y, Judson Street Church, PS 122, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, and The Kitchen.

Ruíz, is a digital media artist who has exhibited in the U.S., Europe and Japan. Ruiz creates interactive virtual environments, simulations and digital photographs that express issues about the structure of perception, behavior & interaction, and restructured reality. Her new work comments on violence in computer games and the confluence of the real and the imaginary.

Sonic media artist Kermani has created original audio work for theater, film and dance since 1985 and has produced several CD's on the IshtarLab Recordings Label since 1992. She is known for her work exploring technology, language and the female body. Her current multimedia work on the internet is an extension of her fascination with ancient writing and modern philosophy.

Process

In the new project, Shick and Kilpatrick will first create a verbal representation, or set of descriptions/instructions, of new dance movement. These descriptions will be choreographed and motion captured by Naugle at the University of California, Irvine and "inhabited" by a digital character/clone created/animated by Ruiz at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Shick will then create new movement based on her responses to the computer avatar. In performing the new work, the set will consist both of Kilpatrick's sculpture and projections of Ruiz's avatar. New music will be created by Elise Kermani and Sarah Plant.

Synthetic Character......

Using Barbara's long two person coat and one dancer with a "synthetic other" projection/interaction. I was thinking of having Vicki's (action and inaction) (relating and not relating) to a synthetic "character" that would have her actions embedded into the character's repertoire- somewhat like an alter ego, not a shadow though, but a distorted replica or perverted clone of sorts. A few years ago I was on a trip to Europe and saw a very strange sign in a construction zone of the airport. It said

"Excuse us while we remove yesterday to make room for tomorrow".

This message stayed with me as I think about the current condition which is evolving ... we do not dream of a future and have no memory of a past. Yet, of course, they are with us in a "cloaked" form.

avatar - ae vE tar Definition 1. in Hindu mythology, a human incarnation of a god. Definition 2. a concrete manifestation of any abstraction, such as an idea or concept; embodiment.

detritus - dih trai tEs Definition 1. a mass of small rocks or particles broken up by geological or climatic forces. Definition 2. a mass of crumbling material; debris. Example Ø >> the detritus of the Roman Empire. Crossref. Syn. debris Related Words waste

The idea of verbal movement cues:

1.elbows rapidly jerking up and down as chin leads downward and feet are stumbling

2.straight legged run relatively in place - arms working hard

3. sitting in chair facing forward -jack knife the body

4.palms moving all over the body - head and gaze following the action

5. slide off a chair use arms for support end up on back - turn over to belly

6. rapid changes of direction initiated by head

7. rubber band like kicks

8. while standing actively shrug shoulders up and down-chin goes up-cave in the belly

9. jumping-feet are constantly changing direction and position - arms are relaxed at sides of body

10. slowly stand up from seated position-bend forward from waist and circle the arms

which would trigger the > >computer figures, which would then trigger VS's > >movements.

"AVA" will use digital media such as motion capture, 2 & 3D computer animation, and new infrared sensors to effect rhythm and the force of dance movements to trigger dynamics. On sound.....Elise is thinking that droned sonic layers would give the work the same meditative effect as silence/stillness, but add a subtle intensity and flow.

see sample ---------

other motion capture photos from Motion Analysis ----------------------

three movements emerging....

MoCap

* ava and text elements involving process

Shick and Kilpatrick will first create a verbal representation, or set of descriptions/instructions, of new dance movement. These descriptions will be choreographed and motion captured by Naugle at the University of California, Irvine and "inhabited" by a digital character/clone created/animated by Ruiz at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Shick will then create new movement based on her responses to the computer avatar. In performing the new work, the set will consist both of Kilpatrick's sculpture and projections of Ruiz's avatar. New music will be created by Elise Kermani and Sarah Plant.

KillJoy

*ava is inside a violent computer video game and attempts to exit, alter, change the environment

I.A.

* interactive elements of the real and the virtual characters

Bios:

Barbara Kilpatrick -

Barbara Kilpatrick is a visual artist who lives and works in New York City. Her sculpture, photographs and paintings have been included in group shows in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Washington DC. She has had two solo exhibitions in New York City, most recently at The Kitchen in November 2000. Since 1996, she has collaborated with dancers and choreographers, especially Vicky Shick. Their work has been seen at the 92nd Street Y/Harkness Dance Project, The Kitchen, PS 122, Danspace at St. Mark's Church, and Movement Research at Judson Church. Kilpatrick and Shick were also artists in residence with Companie Christiane Blaise in Grenoble.

Elise Kermani -

Sonic media artist Elise Kermani has created original audio work for theater, film and dance since 1985 and has produced several CD's on the IshtarLab Recordings Label since 1992. She has a background in performance art and is known for her work exploring technology, language and the female body. Her current multimedia work on the internet is an extension of her fascination with ancient writing and modern philosophy. She is a recipient of many grants including Franklin Furnace, Grand Marnier, Electronic Arts Grant Program, Meet the Composer and the Puffin Foundation and her work has been reviewed in several publications including The Village Voice, High Performance, Los Angeles Times, and Time Out New York. From 1996-2000 she was the Executive Producer of the Electronic Arts Performance Series at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. http://ishtar.cdemusic.org

Lisa Naugle - (info. coming soon upon her arrival back from New Mexico)

http://www.arts.uci.edu/lnaugle/

Sarah Plant -

Composer Sarah Plant was Associate Music Director, arranger, flutist for Ang Lee's Oscar-nominated feature, "Eat Drink Man Woman." She has scored feature and documentary films, including "Juliette of the Herbs" (PBS), "Borderline Fractures," "For Love of Julian," and the six-part series, "In the Eye of the Spirit." She has composed for "Bravo Profiles: Julie Taymor," for installations at the American Museum of Natural History, and for the Bill T. Jones Dance Company. Her compositions have been performed at the Kennedy Center, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Carnegie Recital Hall, the Public Theater, Spoleto Festival, and on radio and TV.

Kathleen Ruíz - .

for viewing in 3D please download & install Cosmoplayer 2.1 PC or Mac & then please click image

Kathleen Ruíz, is a digital media artist who has exhibited her work in the U.S., Europe and Japan. She creates interactive virtual environments, simulations and digital photographs that express issues about the structure of perception, behavior & interaction, and restructured reality. Ruiz is a Professor of Electronic Arts at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where she develops and teaches courses in virtual environments/3D web, cyberarts, digital imaging, advanced digital 3D and alternative gaming. She is represented by The Sandra Gering Gallery in New York City. She has taught and developed curriculum at the School of Visual Arts, New York University and others. Her work has been published in The New York Times, Wired, El Pais, USA Today, Aperture, Leonardo, Art News, ARTI and others. She has received numerous awards including the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation Award, a New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Percent for Art Commission and a recent NYSCA grant for her new work which comments on violence in computer games and the confluence of the real and the imaginary. http://www.rpi.edu/~ruiz

Vicky Shick -

Vicky Shick has been involved in the New York City dance community since the late 1970s. She was a member of the Trisha Brown Company for six years and received a New York Dance and Performance Award (a "Bessie") for performance. Shick has performed with many other choreographers, including Yoshiko Chuma, Irene Hultman, Wendy Perron, Stephen Petronio, Marta Renzi, Susan Rethorst, and Sara Rudner. Shick's choreography has been shown in New York City at The Kitchen, Dance Theatre Workshop, PS 1, Movement Research at Judson Church, Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, The Dia Foundation, Dixon Place, University Settlement House, and the Harkness Dance Project at the 92nd Street Y. Vicky Shick teaches regularly in New York at Movement Research and the Trisha Brown Studio. She has also taught at universities, festivals, and the workshops and throughout Europe.

Vicky Shick and Barbara Kilpatrick:Collaborations

Vicky Shick and Barbara Kilpatrick's collaborations have a parallel construction in which the choreographer and artist create dance and art simultaneously, acting and reacting with each process. Both share an ongoing interest in the poetics of everyday action. Shick's vocabulary combines vaguely familiar gesture and simple movement with more "classical" full-out dance. Kilpatrick's work consists of 3-dimensional objects in fiberglass, wax, paper, wire mesh, latex, and copper. They usually make reference to the human figure, whether as bodies, torsos, clothing, or quasi-furniture. In the dances, the objects have led a mixed life: partly prop, partly set, and partly sculpture. The result is a dance that hovers between motion and fixity, gesture and souvenir, vestige and debris.

Over the last seven years, their collaborations have been produced and presented by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church, the Harkness Dance Project a the 92nd Street Y, Movement Research at Judson Church, PS 122, and The Kitchen.