All Articles by admin

11 Articles
Performance, Projects, Research

Ghost Ships Video Documentation Online

We’ve just completed some video documentation of our mediatized performance work ‘Ghost Ships’, which we shot in the studios at Macquarie University in Sydney.

‘Ghost Ships’ is a work for wireless wearable performance interface and intelligent lighting systems. The work uses of an unencumbered wireless performance interface to drive all media elements via free air gestures from a single on stage performer. Through the use of a wearable microcontroller and sensor system designed for the project by the artists, a single performer is able to play the entire theatrical space (light, sound, video) through arm and hand gestures. This includes an intelligent moving light system that moves theatrical lights and changes light parameters in response to the performer’s gestures.

This is an evolving prototype of an interface we’ve been working on for a couple of years now. You can read about some of the R&D work here.

Software/media programming: Julian Knowles

Wearable interface design and additional programming: Donna Hewitt

Music: Julian Knowles

Performance improvisations: Donna Hewitt

Performance, Research

Macrophonics Open Source 2012 photo gallery

Gallery
Lectures, Performance, Research

Vivid Digital Workshop. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Here are a few snaps of the recent Macrophonics digital workshop for Vivid Sydney at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney. Donna Hewitt and Julian Knowles delivered a 3 hour presentation/workshop on approaches to gesture controlled audio and video.

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

 The workshop introduced participants to the Arduino platform and various approaches to designing gestural sensing systems. Below you can see our most recent wearable interface prototype (built as part of our ongoing creative R&D with Legs on the Wall) which has been extended to include a glove based interface in addition to flex and accelerometer sensors.

Wearable prototype #2 and josystick
Wearable prototype #2 and joystick

The second prototype has been designed so that it can be retrofitted to different performers of different sizes. Donna has used a neoprene and velcro system to mount sensors and provided a means to replace or change sensors via locking connectors for each sensor. The workshop also provided an opportunity to give an overview of the Max/Jitter patching environment and how gestural data was mapped in the process of achieving successful and engaging creative outcomes.

Donna Hewitt showing wearable prototype #1
Donna Hewitt showing wearable prototype #1

The workshop participants had a broad range of prior knowledge (from little, to quite a lot), but all seemed to get a lot out of the workshop process. And besides… it’s such a lovely building.

Lectures, Performance, Research

Vivid Ideas talk: The Making of the Future of Performance

Vivid Sydney. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia
Vivid Sydney. Museum of Contemporary Art Australia

VIVID SYDNEY

Vivid Ideas: The Making of the Future of Performance

Speakers: Patrick Nolan, Julian Knowles, Donna Hewitt, Timothy Ohl

Museum of Contemporary Art, Australia

6 June, 2013. 9:00 pm – 10:00 pm

Tickets:

General – $20.00
Industry – $15.00
Student/Educator – $10.00

Donna Hewitt - Macrophonics
Donna Hewitt – Macrophonics

In late 2012 the artist collective Macrophonics visited internationally-recognised physical theatre company, Legs On The Wall, to experiment with sensor-based technology and how it can be adapted specifically for live performances. What emerged was a tool for creating live art, one that uses both the body of a performer and the space they move through. Now Macrophonics and Legs On The Wall offer audiences a glimpse into what comes next – the creation of a new work that transforms the dancer into the conductor, the musician into the actor, and the stage into the interface.

This presentation will feature Professor Julian Knowles of Macquarie University’s Department of Media, Music, Communication and Cultural Studies and Patrick Nolan, Artistic Director of Legs On The Wall, and a demonstration of the Macrophonics technology with performer Tim Ohl.

THE MAKING OF…

 In a series of fast-paced, one-hour tag-team sessions, creative teams from the worlds of television, gaming, music, and animation take us behind-the-scenes to introduce us to the people and processes that make huge creative projects a reality.

 These sessions explore strategies for making international real-time collaborations work, find out what tools are essential for co-ordinating multi-part projects, and meet some of the world’s most interesting companies and creatives.

Radio Interview with Julian Knowles – 2SER Sydney, Australia (from 17:20 onwards)