New Theories for a Digital Age
Playing the Bard: At the Intersection of Immersive Theatre and Technology
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Amanda J. Nelson, Natasha Staley
While immersive theatre is not new, in recent years it has become ever more popular. Interactive theatrical experiences push the boundaries of traditional theatre, blurring the line between audience and creator. Shakespeare’s Garden: An Immersive Sound Stroll Through His Sonnets, Soliloquies, and Scenes was a multidisciplinary collaboration exploring the intersection of immersive theatre and technology. Guided by spatial audio and images projected onto large room partitions, audience members followed a meandering path through the transformed black box. Actively engaged in their own exploration, audience members experienced recordings of Shakespeare texts and garden soundscapes. The interactive nature of this project was of particular interest to the collaborators. How will audiences react to a “sound stroll”? How will audiences engage with their fellow audience members during the experience? How will spatial, aural, and visual environments affect the way in which an audience responds to and engages with Shakespeare's texts? Will they “hear” his words more fully, reaching a higher level of understanding? The project proved successful with more than 1,000 audience members attending and several hundred sharing their own experiences through exit surveys and posts on social media. The popularity of the project, led to the development of a online reality version of the work: a new incarnation, expanding the concepts of place, space, and interaction into the digital realm. Sharing observations and reflections on the process and implementation, this case study explores how a group of collaborators, from diverse disciplines, came together to explore the possibilities of storytelling through technology.
From Medusa to the Hamster Wheel: An Alternative History of Photography and a Plea for New Theories in the Digital Age
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Stafford Smith
Starting from the premise that Medusa was the first photographer, turning her subjects into mineralized objects to be leisurely gazed upon, this talk plots photography's course from those decisive moments B.C., as the medium evolved both technically and conceptually; changing its meaning from death and the past to the fleeting yet perpetual activity of the present. It takes a humorous look at the evolution of photography to make the case that the philosphies that undergird much of the critical thought on the medium should be called into question to see if they are still relevant in the digital age. Is photography, as espoused by Susan Sontag and Roland Barthes, still a medium of the past and death, or has it become an agent of the perpetual present, trapping users in an infinitely spinning hamster wheel of distraction? Is photography even used to represent reality anymore, or is it completely dedicated to an amplification of the persona? Jean Beaudrillard had imagined a single Matrix-like simulacrum in which we all lived. But we are now faced with individual simulacra, each representing a self-imposed ideal that we must live up to. How do we consider theories on the gaze in the age of the selfie? Is there a difference between the photographer's and the subject's gaze anymore? Does the editor's gaze matter when anyone can self-publish? Educators in photography need to move beyond megapixels, RAW files and Photoshop to consider the conceptual changes that the digital age has bestowed upon us.
Transformative Learning through Dynamic Design: Motion and Interaction in User-driven Environments
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jon Krasner Krasner
The interplay between motion and interaction has allowed artists and graphic designers to provide richer learning experiences that deepen our understanding of the world. From small, portable devices that mobilize and compress information, to mediated, immersive spaces that blend physical and digital media, the co-existence between motion and user-driven interaction can make our experiences more transformative, experiential, and collaborative. The range of learning environments, from mobile applications to large-scale, exhibition spaces, has become increasingly cinematic and have allowed users to become more active in engaging with the world. Large-scale video architecture, for example, enables generative animations to be created in real-time based on the input of live data from multiple users. This enhances learning and problem-solving by encouraging dialogue and information sharing within a supportive context. Graphic design case studies, assignments, and examples of undergraduate student work will examine how the interplay between motion and interaction can enhance learning and foster deeper communication.
Size Matters: Proportional Variance in the Representation and Viewing of the Human Figure
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Joan Wines
The human figure dominates art, differently in different ages but through many historical periods and in most, although not all, cultures. The terms life-sized, miniature, and over-sized remind us that we view the scale and proportion of human figures in an artwork on the basis of our own real body dimensions. Certainly, size helps determine how human images will affect a viewer, but it is seldom the main factor in a work’s success. The 30 x 20 inch Mona Lisa is as broadly admired as Michelangelo’s over-sized David. The artists keep perpetual control of the size ratio between their human images and the people who view them. Today’s new technologies have given the viewers this control. Screen sizes alter their experience of proportionality—viewing over-sized human figures on movie screens, various sizes on TV screens, and smaller images on tablets and smartphones. Observers of the actual statue of David typically respond with awe at its aesthetic strength, symbolism, and historical context. Smartphone viewers see David’s image not only as small but also as contextualized by proscribed narratives—plus numerous other cached images and messages waiting for screen time. What are the physiological and psychological effects of experiencing varying proportional differences between human images and real humans? Does size really matter? My guess is yes—it matters a lot. And I am impatiently waiting on brain scientists and psychologists for more specific, sure-to-be intriguing answers.
