REMAP and Open Perception‘s OpenPTrack Version 2 (Gnocchi) is now being used for the Laboratorio de Interactividad Corporal (Body Interactivity Laboratory) at the Centro Hipermediatico Experimental Latinoamericano (cheLA) in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
A joint initiative of REMAP and cheLA, the Lab got underway this past February, and is developing three new performance pieces that “explore concepts, implications and technologies of physical tracking and augmented reality,” particularly, “as they concern the relationships between the body and memory.”
REMAP researchers were in residence in February and March—upgrading cheLA’s OpenPTrack installation, providing demonstrations and workshops, and introducing the system to the three multidisciplinary teams invited to create new works based on their proposals. These teams—consisting of Buenos Aires-based choreographers, directors, composers, performers, writers, dramaturgs, media artists and designers—are continuing to collaborate and experiment with OpenPTrack as the interface between movement and media, showcasing their results at milestones.
The pieces are using OpenPTrack in very different ways. Part installation, part drama, The Artificial Grandparents is probing fading and reoccurring memories within the lifelong home, and as they relate to long-held objects, of a woman with Alzheimer’s disease. Flock is a dance piece wherein the performers and media are working together to express the ebbs and flows of nature, and nature’s memory. Jorge Cárdenas Recovery, also a dance piece, is investigating the relationship of media and shifting memories, particularly as they relate to events of Argentina’s 2001 economic crisis, and the physicality of the Massacre of Plaza de Mayo.
Joining the REMAP team at cheLA were Oakland-based interactive system designer Matthew Ragan and designers from the Plovdiv Drama Theatre (PDT) in Bulgaria. Along with Sam Amin, Peter Gusev and Zoe Sandoval, they contributed to the demonstrations and workshops in preparation for an upcoming REMAP-PDT collaboration on Entropy Bound, a Google-supported Future Storytelling research project that is fusing traditional dramaturgy and code. As a demonstration of experimenting with the OpenPTrack system and the new Version 2 features, Jeff Burke led the team in designing a dynamic, interactive space, while director Jared J. Stein collaborated with Argentinian performer Natali Faloni, exploring themes and character and media developments similar to those in Entropy Bound within the context of a movement piece.
2018-present.
cheLA: http://chela.org.ar/ Lab: http://chela.org.ar/archives/2172320
A glimpse into the Flock work-in-progress:
Gallery of REMAP residency at Laboratory:
