Body-Art and Technological Transformation

a workshop directed by Johannes Birringer

 

Friday, May 16, 2003, University Ceremony Hall, 15:oo – 19:00

Public Exhibition of Workshop Process and Discussion – 20:30

 

A hands-on workshop for participating artists interested in a
critical exploration of image processing in contemporary performance-media technologies.

 

(1) Introduction: real time synthesis

– contemporary arts practice & current research in arts and science –

(transgenic art, virtual reality systems, motion capture/animated human figure creation,
synthetic embodimenta/avatars, distributed systems/networks)

– Relations between computer sciences and biotechnologies will be addressed from an artistic/cultural viewpoint – 

(2) Practical workshop rehearsal with digital media.

The workshop offers an introduction to computer-based environments as trans-theatrical spaces for action, in which participants will experience and produce other kinds of perceptions of reality, beyond subjectivity or the conventional understanding of body in real time space.

The interaction with real-time digital processes invites a playful exploration of how the boundaries of real bodies or respresentations of bodies can be subject to modification. The workshop offers research perspectives on identity transformations in virtual reality.

Human interaction with digital technology suggests the composition of fictions: not „disembodiment“ but a kind of hyperplasticity in which the human and the technological are partners.

 

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A different version of this workshop, entitled „Physical Camera and Telematics“ is also availble upon request. A new focus on interactive programming, sensor interfaces, and sensorial materials, is offered by the workshop „Bodies of Color.“

 

This workshop concept and structure is based on the previous workshop-lab „Lively Bodies Lively Machines“ (1995-1999) which has been offered in numerous locations in Europe and the Americas.

 

The workshop enrollment is limited to 18. Hands-on participation is suggested; participants with no prior experience working with computer-based media are also welcome to observe. The practical outcome is intended to be shown to a wider public in a 30 minute
performance-exhibition, and there will be an open discussion following