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CubeX,
Scenario: 16. April 2008
/ The production
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The project CubeX is an interactive performance-installation with audience
participation. An innovative scenic hybrid between performance art, computer
games and interactive film. The interaction will take place both directly
with other participants and live performers present in the scenery, as
well as with physical or virtual objects and scenic elements – and
indirectly through digital sensor techniques and cameras “reading”
and responding to the physical actions.
In the scenic universe of CubeX there will be alternative
tracks to follow and every choice will form a unique path for the voyage
through the landscape of the story.
Based on the tale of “The Pied Pieper” the
audience is invited to take part in a dynamic media theatre, where the
participants are confronted with the challenge and the consequence of
choice, the overall theme being “the anatomy of choice”.
/ The research of new technologies
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Seen in the light of the challenges of exploring and developing this relatively
new artistic field, the project aims to develop and prepare a common interdisciplinary
laboratory and production plan, as a collaboration between Nordic performance
artists, film- and media producers, interaction designers and technology
developers.
It is our experience that new technologies need to be tested
and placed in the bigger picture of an actual production like CubeX. Otherwise
the testing will not be meaningful, and only serve as a demonstration
of technology or as further exploration of things we already know.
Through this common Nordic effort PRAMnet aim to
create a successful production and at the same time make it possible for
artists and researchers active in the field of new media, to encompass
new knowledge about the artistic possibilities and competence that the
Nordic countries offer within this area.
We want to initiate an artistic process where explorative research and
practical production material is developed in parallel; an interchange
of ideas and experiences that creates new knowledge in the field of multidisciplinary
art.
/ The site - virtual city ABADYL:
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We have chosen the (virtual) city of Abadyl, as described by ABADYL CITY
GUIDE, as the site of the events. Abadyl is an ongoing art project by
artist Michael Johansson, a virtual city that “explores a complex
digital space in a setting that invites to participation.”
/ The outcome:
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Our construction of virtual ABADYL might be explained as a result of the
more or less democratic choices of former inhabitants. According to the
actual choices made by the participants in the actual show, the "rats"
and "The Pied Piper" might materialize in a different way.
But now the participants are facing a different kind of choice: The democratic
choice of "what to do". What will be the best choice for the
small community of virtual ABADYL?
On this step the producers of the performance installation
CubeX will have to think hard and to guide the participants carefully
to present a very limited number of possible solutions and their results.
At this point the children might be guided into another "end of story"
than their parents.
Virtual ABADYL will vanish - the choices we will have to make IRL are
still open.
/ The design:
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The staged version of ABADYL should be fairly realistic in its construction
and expression, but combined with a fairy tale twist, taking the participants
into a "what if" kind of world, on one hand comforting and familiar
just like the world outside, as we know or imagine to know, and on the
other hand it should be a slightly bit different, which allows for virtual
"as if" solutions, and helps the participants to enter the fictional
contract presented to them through the performance installation.
The visual “look” of ABADYL can be a dynamic
mix of physical objects and architectural elements, 3D virtual graphics,
live video stream and pre-edited video sequences, that evolves and changes
as the performance is enacted by the participants. A computer game mixed
with role play and live performance, staged in a physical setup.
The scenography will first of all be a “playground”
for the interaction – but it might also appear as an “antagonist”
that reacts to and challenges the participants.
The organisation of the “scene” might be an architectural
embodiment of the overall dramaturgical structure, in which each room
or scenery will represent a physical or virtual challenge to be solved,
according to the story.
The labyrinth of CAMPORIA, the swamp of TRAILERS
PARK, the mountains of ONRO, the magic jukebox and other "sights"
of ABADYL all offers possibilities for creating interesting interactive
scenarios for the participants, grown ups as well as children. Furthermore
the scenery could, both metaphorically and literally, host or even personify
the leading character of the Pied Piper, who, through the different variations
of expressions, (re)acts upon and sets the consequences of the participants
actions and choices.
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